"Get rid of that guy!": Sergio Perez faces criticism as Jos Verstappen's former aide questions the Mexican's place in Red Bull 

Sergio Perez has come under severe criticism from Jos Verstappen's former aide Frans Verschuur, who is questioning why the Mexican was retained by Red Bull. The Mexican was on his last season with the team in 2024 as his contract came to an end. He didn't start the 2024 season that well as after a couple of races where he finished P2 behind Max Verstappen, the decline began.

Sergio Perez has since then struggled in qualifying, a pattern that has been common with him throughout his Red Bull stint. After the race in Canada, where Sergio once again drew a blank, the Mexican now finds himself P5 in the championship.

The impact of Sergio Perez not performing well was not felt in the last couple of years because Red Bull had a much faster car compared to the competition. Hence, Max Verstappen would continue to score big while the Mexican would still get respectable results. That has not been the case this season, however. In the last 4 races, despite Max winning two of them, both McLaren and Ferrari have closed the gap on the reigning champion in the standings.

Former Jos Verstappen aide Frans Verschuur, with whom the Dutch driver had won the 24 hours of Le Mans in 2008, dispelled the theory that Max Verstappen and his father could have had a role in the entire scheme of things. He told Ziggo Sport Race Café that the Dutchman was only worried about the unrest within the team. Advocating to remove Sergio Perez from Red Bull, he said (as quoted by PlanetF1),

“Jos doesn’t say anything about it either. They don’t give a damn about who’s wrong. Jos doesn’t think that’s very important. He does have the resources around him, and he is already afraid of the unrest in the team. Maybe they did this to get that peace back into the team, by putting Perez in, but I don’t think it’s a good story. Get rid of that guy!”

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Frans advocates switching Sergio Perez and Yuki Tsunoda

Frans advocated that both Sergio Perez and Yuki Tsunoda should be switched, especially since the Mexican is not even contributing to the championship. Talking about how it was "incomprehensible" for him that the Mexican got a two-year contract, Frans said,

“It is incomprehensible that that man has been given a two-year contract. He causes so much damage, he doesn’t even generate that much. He doesn’t get any points for the Constructors’ Championship, so that is also a tragedy. Max has to do it alone. Put Yuki in and switch the two! I don’t understand it!”

There's been a lack of clarity over what the length of Sergio's contract is. Helmut Marko claimed in front of the media that the Mexican had a two-year contract. Christian Horner has however contradicted and said that the driver is on a 1+1 contract, which means a one-year extension followed by an option to extend for another year.

Regardless, it's hard to deny that Perez would need to step up if he wants to keep his seat at Red Bill.