Sergio Perez is simply "not fast enough" to keep his seat at Red Bull, according to a former Formula 1 racer.

At home in Mexico, amid swirling rumours about his future despite a signed 2024 contract, Perez crashed out at turn 1 by taking a lunge for the lead from P5 on the grid just 800 metres earlier.

Former Minardi and Spyker driver Christijan Albers told De Telegraaf: "I actually don't think he did anything wrong there.

"Of course he turned in too early, but so did Lewis Hamilton, a seven-time world champion, in Qatar," he said.

"I prefer that someone goes for it and tries to improve their position - the problem was simply that he squeezed too quickly. (Charles) Leclerc just couldn't do anything about it."

Dutchman Albers, 44, said his only problem with Perez is that he's not good enough to be Max Verstappen's teammate.

"I'm not a Perez fan," he admitted, "but that's simply because he doesn't improve over a weekend even though he has all of Max's data. The gap in qualifying is simply too big.

"He's just really lacking. He's not fast enough."
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