Sergio Perez's ongoing career at Red Bull remains uncertain, even after his recovery in the Hungarian Grand Prix following a crash in Q1.
Following this incident, which is part of a trend of errors and subpar performances, it seemed that Christian Horner and Dr. Helmut Marko's patience was wearing particularly thin.
Yet, Marko mentions that Red Bull is still open to discussing Perez's immediate future, planning a decisive meeting after the upcoming Belgian GP.
"Perez had a very good race," the team advisor commented. "The strategy worked well. But we are sticking to our previous approach. On Monday after Spa I will fly to England and discuss the procedure with Horner. Then we will see together what we are going to do."
Perez's impressive drive from 16th on the grid to 7th at the end of the race, closing in just two spots behind Max Verstappen, keeps his prospects afloat for the time being.
"He did well," stated Giedo van der Garde, one of Perez's most critical observers. "He actually drove a pretty good race," he told Viaplay. "In terms of pace, he was also doing well. Good overtaking manoeuvres too," the Dutchman noted.
"We know that he is under even more pressure now, but he had to show that he can score points, which he did. If he does that again next weekend, he will at least go into the summer break well enough to maybe be able to finish the rest of the season."
Olav Mol, the Dutch commentator, concurred, acknowledging that Perez managed to meet Red Bull's pre-race expectations. "The assignment was to finish in the points, so he can tick that box," he remarked on Ziggo Sport. "If they say in advance that he has to score points and he does, you can't say that he didn't do well, because even George Russell was behind him."
Interestingly, Perez isn't facing public criticism from his teammate Verstappen, who along with Horner and Marko recognizes the positive aspects of their relationship, evident in Perez's new 2025-2026 contract.
"I support him every weekend," Verstappen disclosed to ORF.
"I answer all his questions, including about the setup. I have a very good relationship with him, that's no problem at all."
Regarding the latest incident, Verstappen reflected, "I don't think we need to go into too much detail about that. It's just a shame for Checo, because I thought up until that point, actually, he was having quite a decent weekend. That's the only thing that I want to say about that."
If Perez were to be replaced, his presence could significantly impact the 2025 driver market, particularly with the influential Mexican sponsors he attracts.
"If he were sitting in a different car right now, with a different teammate," former F1 driver Alex Wurz analyzed, "he would be the old, normal Checo again, who is really, really good on some days." body check tags ::
