F1 News: Red Bull Chief Squashes Sergio Perez Ultimatum Rumours
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has come forward to squash all rumors which suggested that Sergio Perez was given an ultimatum until the year's end to improve his performance or be prepared for an exit.
Despite his contract extending until the end of 2024, people have been wary about Perez's journey with the Milton Keynes outfit after taking into account the way it has abruptly ended its drivers' contracts in the past for non-performance.
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The latest case is that of sister team AlphaTauri driver Nyck De Vries who was replaced by Daniel Ricciardo before the summer break for failing to score even a single point in the first ten races of the season.
While Perez has scored points so far, the points difference between him and championship winner Max Verstappen has been too loud to be overlooked. He portrayed a strong stance early in the season but, as the months went by, his performance dropped to the point that he managed to earn just five points in the last three Grand Prix- namely the Singapore GP, the Japanese GP, and the Qatar GP.
Despite repeated assurances from his team boss, Perez's silly mistakes have caused fans to speculate about his Red Bull exit quite often, especially after it was recently stated by the team that the minimum requirement of a driver not winning the championship, was a P2 in the Drivers' Standings.
With Perez's P2 position being vulnerable over the next five remaining Grands Prix of the season, rumors circulated that he would be shown the exit if he lost his position to another driver.
It's not all been bad!"
However, Horner revealed that isn't the case. In fact, his words suggest that he still has faith in the 33-year-old driver. He told the Daily Mirror:
"It's not something that we have discussed or even contemplated.
"Checo is our driver and we want to support him in the best way that we can.
"We believe that he can achieve that second place in the championship but he is up against tough competitors with a lot of racing still to go.
"We selected Checo in the first place because of his experience and his ability to be able to deal with pressure.
"He did a lot for us in '21 and '22, contributing to the constructors' championship last year and this year with the victories he has achieved.
"We know what he is capable of and we haven't seen that for the last couple of races. We want to support him to make sure he gets back to that early-season form.
"It's a tough season and tough being Max's team-mate – we mustn't forget the challenge that is mentally.
"We know what Checo is capable of and we know that qualifying tends to be his weakness, but when racing he comes alive on a Sunday afternoon. He's demonstrated that time and time again. We have six one-two finishes this year, he's won two Grands Prix and he's still second in the world championship 30 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton. It's not all been bad!"
Horner also gave an update that Perez got to the root cause of the issues he faced in Qatar and Japan after being on the simulator for three days. He added:
“He was on the simulator for three days last week, which is not something he has ever done previously.
"Three days in succession to try to help him to get to the root cause of some of the issues he felt he had in Qatar and Japan.
"I think he made some great progress so, hopefully, that will come to the fore this weekend. He's going the extra yard, which is so important."
