Sergio Pérez, a future on hold?

Sergio Pérez, who extended his contract a few weeks ago, could lose his seat this summer. Helmut Marko assured us, in our edition n°2471, that its future, as well as that of Daniel Ricciardo, Liam Lawson or even Isack Hadjar, would be discussed during the summer break. And if the first line he has “inherited” in Belgium due to the engine penalty of Verstappen seemed to offer him a reprieve, the poverty of his Sunday run does not encourage optimism.

A meeting was also planned for Monday July 29, even if Christian Horner tried not to make it an event. “Checo has had some complicated races recently, admitted the main British team. The most confusing thing for us is that at the start of the season, everything was going well for him. He did a great job on Saturday in qualifying. We must understand what his difficulties were in the race. We have a meeting tomorrow (Monday) indeed, but it's not just about Checo. There are several topics on the agenda, like every year before the break. We have consolidated our lead in the Drivers' championship, our priority is now on the Manufacturers' championship, because we lost 10 points today. »

“The team is behind Sergio Pérez”

A replacement by Daniel Ricciardo, author of point 10^e place in Spa, by Yuki tsunoda or Liam Lawson – which would be a more aggressive choice – is mentioned (a test will obviously take place this week at Imola between the Aussie and the Kiwi), but Horner's words were not those of a team boss ready to overturn the table. Unless it’s about having the good guy role and Helmut Marko playing the bad guy? “Checo is a team player, that’s also why we took him in 2020 to put him alongside Max. He won 6 or 7 races for us (5. Editor’s note). He finished 2^e in the championship last year. It's frustrating for everyone that he's having these difficulties. The team is behind him and we all want to see him succeed. Look in Hungary, he had the 4^e best pace in the race, but he was weighed down by his mistake in qualifying. He did a big job on Saturday here, falling just a few thousandths behind Leclerc for pole and qualifying on the front row…” Will his good understanding with Max save him once again from being replaced?