Red Bull denies retirement rumors

Rumors have surfaced on social media that Sergio Perez has been given notice by Red Bull and plans to resign at the Mexican GP. Red Bull speaks of a false report.

The source is said to have been a dinner with people close to Pérez's sponsor Telmex. A member of t ishe company's racing squad is said to have said that Sergio Perez intends to retire at the home race in Mexico. The world championship runner-up has been completely off the pace for three races, scoring just five world championship points in Singapore, Japan and Qatar. The news made its way around the world via social media.

The circulator constructed that Perez should have already received the dismissal at the Japanese GP. A Red Bull spokesman immediately denied it: "There's absolutely nothing to it." Sports chief Helmut Marko said when asked, "I don't know anything about that."

Logic also speaks against the rumor. Red Bull would not publicly announce the driver pairing for Alpha Tauri in Suzuka if it knew at the same time that Perez would no longer be in the squad in 2024. In that case, the announcement would have been withheld.

The team had simply told Perez to clear his head in order to achieve the goal it had set. Red Bull wants its two drivers to finish first and second in the championship for the first time ever.

Rookie mistake for a veteran

At the moment, Perez's lead over third-placed Lewis Hamilton is still 30 points. But if he can't improve, second place is in serious jeopardy. Everyone at Red Bull agrees that Perez is still the equally good race driver they bought in three years ago. His current problem is in his head.

On the one hand, there's Max Verstappen's superiority. It's not easy for any driver to get beaten up like that. When Verstappen drives to pole position and you yourself get knocked out in Q2 seconds behind, it does something to your psyche. Then the race doesn't work either. The six-time GP winner wants to make up places on Sunday with his head through the wall and allows himself rookie mistakes in the process.

A Perez in normal form would never slide into his opponent in a duel as clumsily as he did into Alexander Albon's Williams in Singapore or Kevin Magnussen's Haas in Suzuka. Nor would he pick up three penalties in Qatar for a total of six track limit violations. Perez already crossed the white lines three times before the three-way battle with Pierre Gasly and Lance Stroll began.

Turning point Barcelona upgrade

Until the Monaco GP, Sergio Perez was still a World Championship contender. With two wins, four podiums and a first-place finish in the Baku sprint, the 33-year-old Mexican was just 14 points behind Verstappen after five races. Then came the crash in Q1 in Monte Carlo, which gnawed at the challenger's confidence for the first time.

Much worse, according to Perez, was a new underbody that Red Bull brought to Barcelona. It made the Red Bull faster, but not Perez: "The driving characteristics no longer suited my driving style. The moment came again when I had to think more about how to drive the car to be fast." This also happened to him in the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

Red Bull's problem child doesn't want to blame the engineers at all: "They bring upgrades to make the car faster. It did get faster. It's just that I had a harder time driving the car. Then you have to adapt. I didn't do it as fast as I should have." His request to be allowed to drive the pre-Barcelona specification again could not be granted. No team brings two different cars to the start.

Head crisis like Gasly once had
After the Spanish GP, Perez got caught in a vicious circle. When he tried to correct the car's shortcomings with the car's setup, the car was easier to drive but also slower. When he tried to live with the RB19's idiosyncrasies, he ran over the car and lost even more time.

Not all the races after Barcelona were bad, according to Marko. "He finished on the podium four times after that, showed some super catch-ups like at the Red Bull Ring or Monza." That was the old Perez again. But they were also the races in which he relied on his own feeling and setup.

After Monza, the veteran thought he had overcome the crisis. But his optimism was deceived. Instead of making up ground on Verstappen, he slipped even further. The despair grew all the greater. You only had to look Perez in the face in Qatar: This was a racing driver with no self-confidence.

Marko recalls a similar scenario with Pierre Gasly. For him, too, a clear defeat against Verstappen was the trigger for a head crisis. After the Austrian GP, the Frenchman imagined that something was wrong with the suspension. This then became such a fixed idea that he also lost mental lap time and was ultimately replaced by Alexander Albon.

Chance for Vettel?
Sergio Perez knows he'll have a problem if he can't hold on to second place in the WRC. Contract or not. We can't rule out the possibility that he will pull the ripcord himself at some point. The rumors of his resignation probably weren't just plucked out of a vacuum.

If Perez does decide to end his career voluntarily, Red Bull already has an emergency solution in place. Daniel Ricciardo would then be promoted to the A-team and Liam Lawson would take the place next to Yuki Tsunoda at Alpha Tauri. All the top drivers who could be considered for Red Bull are under contract.

Only one would have time and perhaps interest. But would Sebastian Vettel go for a duel with Max Verstappen? The unanimous opinion in the paddock is that it wouldn't be a good idea. Not for Vettel, but not for anyone else either. In his current form, Verstappen is unbeatable in a Red Bull. Also because he knows the car inside out. Anyone new would have to get used to it first.