“McLaren will be WCC”: F1 fans surprised by Red Bull retaining Sergio Perez for the rest of the season despite dismal form

According to latest reports, Sergio Perez is all set to stay at Red Bull. The Austrian team's decision was first reported by De Telegraaf, and they have confirmed Perez's stay amid speculation about him being replaced by Daniel Ricciardo. Now, fans believe that the move will help McLaren in the Constructors' Championship.

Red Bull Racing, following their annual pre-summer break meeting at Milton Keynes, have decided to retain Checo despite his recent poor run of form. This comes after Christian Horner, Helmut Marko, and other shareholders of the Milton Keynes-based team sat in a meeting to discuss the Mexican driver's future following the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix.

"Checo remains a Red Bull Racing driver, despite all the speculation of recent times," Horner said as per De Telegraaf. "We look forward to seeing him perform on circuits where he has done well before, after the summer break."

It is interesting to note that Horner and Red Bull decided to keep their faith in Perez after the Mexican scored only 28 points in the last eight races, compared to his teammate Max Verstappen's 141.

However, this did not go down too well with the fans as they shared their reactions online:

After reports of Perez being retained, a fan said, "McLaren will be Constructors' Champions."

Another fan was of the opinion that Red Bull always listens to Max Verstappen, "Clearly Max said they had to keep him… what Max says goes."

"Congratulations McLaren on winning the Constructors' Championship," another fan said the same about Perez's retention.

A fan wrote how Perez needs to perform now, "He really needs to perform because ATM he isn't worthy of that seat. 7th position isn't good enough, [he] needs podiums."

Another fan shared a similar response, "And that’s how you lose the WCC."

"Mclaren must be celebrating right now," wrote another fan.

McLaren has been excellent in the Constructors' Championship this season. They overtook Ferrari in Hungary recently and trimmed their gap to Red Bull to 42 points at the end of the Belgian GP.

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Red Bull keep Sergio Perez despite failure to meet clause criteria

Sergio Perez at the Belgian GP (Image via Getty)

Sergio Perez signed a two-year contract extension in June this year and was set to stay at Red Bull till the end of 2026. However, the two-year contract did not provide him immunity, as there were contract clauses that had the power to nullify it.

According to one of the clauses, Perez must stay within 100 points of Max Verstappen by the summer break. Furthermore, he also has to make sure that he stays in at least P5 in the Drivers' Championship.

However, Checo is currently 146 points behind Verstappen. On top of this, he is currently in P7 in the Drivers' Championship. In a nutshell, Red Bull have kept Sergio Perez on despite the Mexican's failure to meet the clause criteria.