"If he can improve there, there's no need to think about replacing him": Helmut Marko pinpoints one area where Sergio Perez needs to work on

Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko recently addressed one area where Sergio Perez needs to improve to secure his seat in the Austrian team.

Ever since Ferrari announced that Lewis Hamilton would be replacing Carlos Sainz in 2025, the latter has become a hot property in the F1 transfer market. Several rumors emerged that Sainz could replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull since Checo's contract ends after 2024.

Speaking to laola1.at about the chances of Checo being replaced, Marko stated that the Mexican's main weakness is his qualifying performance. He underlined that if Perez managed to improve his qualifying lap times, the team would not think of replacing him with any other driver.

"His [Checo's] only weakness is in qualifying, if he can improve there, there's no need to think about it [replacing him]. The atmosphere in the team is very good, also as far as he is concerned," Marko said.

Though Helmut Marko acknowledges Carlos Sainz's recent performances, he backed Checo and praised his pace in the first three races of the 2024 F1 season. He further explained that the Red Bull driver was unable to perform well in Melbourne because of a damaged underbody and tire degradation.

"Of course, his [Sainz] form is fascinating. But it has to be said that Checo delivered three good races this year. The fact that he dropped back so much in Melbourne was due to the damaged underbody and tire degradation," he added.

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Sergio Perez sums up his weekend at the 2024 F1 Australian GP

Sergio Perez had a poor race weekend at the 2024 F1 Australian GP. The Mexican was first hit with a 3-place grid penalty for impeding Nico Hulkenberg in qualifying, then struggled to find the pace and bag a podium in the Grand Prix. After Max Verstappen's DNF due to brake failure, Checo was unable to pick up the pieces for the defending world champions.

Speaking to Sky Sports, he said:

"We just didn't have the pace, unfortunately. I think we struggled early on. We could see Ferrari and McLaren were a step ahead of us. We couldn't get the balance into the window. There's some work to do for the coming races. It was a very unique tarmac and throughout the weekend we were not able to manage the best possible grip level."

Sergio Perez finished fifth in the Australian GP. He currently stands in third place in the drivers' championship table with 46 points.