After the brutal Belgian GP, ​​Red Bull faces a call “that nobody wants to make”

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SPA, Belgium — Sergio Pérez appeared able to reiterate his future with Red Bull in Formula One on Saturday after putting his automobile on the front row of the grid. Belgian Grand Prix.

He thrived in damp conditions and secured P2 on the grid following Max Verstappen's penalty, his best qualifying result since April in China. Despite all of the recent noise and scrutiny of his future, Pérez finally had a solution. As he put it: “It's not like I've forgotten how to drive.”

But Sunday's race undermined Pérez's possibilities of keeping his place at Red Bull on the worst possible time – on the eve of the summer break. He slipped back because the race went on, ending eighth.

“Due to his starting position, we didn't expect to finish eighth,” admitted Christian Horner, Red Bull team boss, after the race. A disappointing result, irrespective of the way you take a look at it.

And that offers Red Bull another excuse to maneuver forward.

Pérez's regression

Red Bull have worked hard to know why Pérez has struggled a lot after a robust begin to the season, but with McLaren closing in on the Constructors' Championship and Red Bull closing in on one other eight points, the pressure is mounting.

Pérez went into the race hoping to make use of the slipstream of pole-sitter Charles Leclerc's automobile on the long term to the primary corner, just as he did last 12 months, and pull off an overtake. It would have been the primary lap this season that he would have led. (Verstappen has led 448 laps.) Instead, he lost out to Lewis Hamilton and quickly fell out of DRS range. He reported over the radio that he was having trouble with straight-line speed resulting from his flat battery.

Pitting from third place didn't help Pérez, who was struggling in traffic. He appeared to aim a charge on Lance Stroll at the ultimate chicane but then pulled away; when Stroll pitted, Pérez lost his DRS, meaning Oscar Piastri was in a position to overtake him. Russell was also battling for Pérez's position before Red Bull pitted him just as Verstappen got close enough to aim a charge.

The next stint was not a lot better. Pérez dutifully made way for Verstappen but was unable to carry off the chasing Lando Norris to guard his teammate. Carlos Sainz then relegated Pérez to eighth place with seven laps to go before Red Bull made the free pit stop to no less than secure the fastest lap point. (Pérez was promoted to seventh after the race following the disqualification of George Russell.)

Pérez, once dubbed the “Mexican Defense Minister” for his efforts to maintain Hamilton at bay in Abu Dhabi in 2021 and help Verstappen win the title, was overtaken six times on Sunday.

He admitted it was a “very disappointing race,” citing battery issues and a mismatched strategy. “I think we were just not good with the tires today,” he said. “The balance was also not right. So, yes, there are a lot of things to analyze.”

A brand new border

Pérez maintained that the result didn’t change his future. “There is too much going on in the team, there are many things we need to focus on and we cannot waste energy on all this speculation,” he said. “So this is the last time I will talk about the future. Just to make this clear for everyone: I will not speak anymore.”

“I will not answer any further questions about the future.” It was the primary time he drew such a line during a media meeting.

Pérez has stressed throughout his recent race, and despite all of the mounting speculation, that he feels confident about his position. On Thursday he even said he was one hundred pc sure he could be within the automobile for the subsequent race at Zandvoort and that he had nothing to fret about when he went on summer vacation.

But this summer break was all the time going to be the time when Red Bull would make a call about its future. McLaren is closing in – the team is simply 42 points behind after Spa – and the championship is at stake unless Verstappen's teammate could make a major contribution. On Sunday, Pérez had the possibility to do exactly that and he did not profit from it.

Horner confirmed after the race that the team had planned a gathering for tomorrow, but said it was “not just about Checo” and that other issues would must be discussed before the summer break. He reiterated that they needed to seek out out why Pérez was struggling a lot. “We need to work with him and continue to support him to understand what is not working properly at the moment,” he said.

Red Bull was keen to make things work with Pérez. Horner praised him after the race as a “great team player” and described the partnership with Verstappen as essentially the most successful within the team's 20-year history. “Nobody wants to see him struggle,” said Horner. “The team was and is fully behind him, everyone wants him to succeed because it hurts to see him in this situation.”

It hurts, and that makes the opportunity of cutting ties all of the harder. “Nobody wants to make that decision,” Horner said. “Of course you talk about it every day. But as a team, we want to get him going.”

Verstappen, who began from eleventh and finished fifth, praised Pérez after the race, even saying his weekend had been “very positive” and that the team's primary concern ought to be the performance of the automobile. “It just shows that we have problems with the tyres,” said Verstappen. “I think that should be our top priority.”

Who could replace Pérez?

If Red Bull does indeed determine that the situation with Pérez can’t be maintained, either at tomorrow's meeting or through the planned evaluation, the issue is that it cannot guarantee an improvement in his form.

Daniel Ricciardo said last week he viewed the races in Hungary and Belgium as “two of the most important not only of my season but possibly of my career” and desired to “give it my all”. This was not only a likelihood to secure a spot at Red Bull, which he had all the time had his sights on but which seemed so out of reach before Pérez's collapse, but in addition to make sure he didn’t lose his own place at RB, which has also been within the highlight this 12 months.

Ricciardo's haul of a single point in those two races may not seem particularly convincing, but Horner said he “did quite well”. His race in Hungary was marred by RB's strategy and he only had a single used set of hard tyres for the Spa race, putting him susceptible to being overtaken by Esteban Ocon, who had two fresh sets and a greater strategy. Ricciardo's form might not be as convincing, but when Red Bull want an experienced driver and a likelihood to see if there’s any of the “old Daniel” left in him from his 2018 peak, his alternative could be a logical one.

The other option is Liam Lawson, Red Bull's reserve driver, who impressed in his five races as Ricciardo's stand-in last 12 months and recently drove the Red Bull RB20 on a filming day. While undeniably talented, it might be an enormous amount of pressure for a 22-year-old driving in only his sixth Grand Prix to provide him the hardest seat in F1 – as Verstappen's teammate. Yuki Tsunoda doesn't appear to stand a likelihood, although he has already done enough to earn a brand new RB contract for 2025.

Both Ricciardo and Lawson will participate in a filming day at Imola next week for this 12 months's RB. Although the track is restricted to 200km, the race offers a chance to check Ricciardo and Lawson on equivalent machinery, although Horner was hesitant to emphasize the importance of the race. “It's a filming day, so they'll be filming,” he said. “It's all about content.”

Red Bull desires to support Pérez and help him turn things around. But that patience will not be enough – and Spa will test it at precisely the fallacious moment for Checo.