Sergio Perez is constantly one of the biggest talking points in the Formula 1 paddock but not always for the right reasons.
His contract situation at Red Bull could have easily been the catalyst for several driver’s movements on the grid next year.
However, Red Bull stuck by the Mexican until at least the end of the 2025 season despite his troubling form.
The Spanish Grand Prix was another race to forget for Sergio Perez, however, journalist Mark Hughes was explaining on The Race Podcast why that wasn’t completely his fault.
Red Bull can partially take the blame for Perez’s three-place grid penalty after telling him to return to the pits following his crash in Canada that destroyed his rear wing.
And while he didn’t make the progress during the race that he would have hoped, the build-up to the race was far from ideal for the Mexican.
Danica Patrick suggested that Perez must start stronger at the beginning of each race weekend.
The demands made by Red Bull on Perez at the Circuit de Catalunya didn’t make that easy.
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Red Bull must take partial blame for Sergio Perez’s struggles in Spain
Talking about how the Mexican has fared recently, Hughes said: “With [Sergio] Perez, it’s part of a pattern but in fairness to him, they were pulling all sorts of wildly different set-ups on him as they tried to figure out between the two cars what they needed to do to get the car to work.
“Yeah, he had that plus his three-place grid penalty for driving back to the pits with a damaged car in Montreal.
“Given he had that nightmare build-up to it, to do what he did on a three-stop and come back and get into the lower end points I suppose was sort of OK.
“But he’s going through that very familiar nightmare middle phase of his season, it’s been like that for the last two seasons, so we’ll just have to see if he pulls out of it.”
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Red Bull must work harder to help Sergio Perez after recent difficulties
A driver of Sergio Perez’s experience and calibre can’t be considered a number two at any team even if that’s the role he’s currently playing at Red Bull.
If Perez drives until the end of the 2025 season then he will have reached 300 Grand Prix which is an incredibly rare feat.
However, as Hughes explains, Perez’s role involves not only trying to drive as quickly as he can for himself but also exploring set-up options for Max Verstappen.
The Dutchman is obviously Red Bull’s best hope of winning the Drivers’ Championship and Perez is slipping down the pecking order at the moment.
Damon Hill called his performance in Spain nowhere near good enough while former driver Giedo van der Garde believes he could now be under pressure.
When it comes to his performance in the race, he would have wanted to do better even if after the race Christian Horner suggested that 8 was the best position he could have finished in.
However, it may be being overlooked just how much of a team player Perez is expected to be this season.
There’s a strong chance that Verstappen and Red Bull could win their respective championships without Perez ever winning a race in 2024.
That would be a frustrating outcome for the Mexican, but potentially the perfect result for his teammate and the Austrian manufacturer.
The post ‘Sort of OK’: Journalist explains how Red Bull contributed to Sergio Perez ‘nightmare’ at Spanish GP appeared first on F1 Oversteer.