Red Bull taskmaster shares worrying update on Sergio Perez’s future: “All F1 contracts have exit clauses”

Red Bull taskmaster Helmut Marko has shared a worrying update on Sergio Perez, as the Austrian revealed that the team would assess what needs to be done during the summer break. The team surprised everyone involved when it gave Perez a two-year contract extension a few races back.

The Mexican was struggling for form at the end of the 2023 F1 season and Daniel Ricciardo was even brought to RB to evaluate as a possible replacement. With the Australian not showing enough pace early in the season, Sergio Perez got his contract extension in the bag.

What did however prove to be a Red Flag in all of this was the fact that the driver's form was just not good enough. Sergio Perez had struggled to perform at a strong enough level and this has led to increased pressure on Red Bull and Max Verstappen to defend the lead in the constructors championship.

With Sergio Perez struggling to contribute in any kind of meaningful manner, the exit clauses in the Mexican's contract have been reported where the driver needs to be less than 100 points behind Max Verstappen in the championship by the summer break. With the driver already 137 points behind, that ship appears to have sailed already.

In what was a worrying assessment for Sergio Perez, Helmut Marko was questioned about his poor form and instead of trying to muster some kind of defense for the Mexican, the Austrian said that Red Bull would evaluate things during the summer break.

He told Grandprix247:

"All Formula 1 contracts have exit clauses, most of them related to performance or let’s say for the top drivers. As I mentioned before, we will have an evaluation during the summer break and then we will make a decision.”

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Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda discussed as possible Sergio Perez alternatives

Talking about a possible alternative to Sergio Perez should it come to that, Helmut Marko said that the team would take a look at the kind of lap times Liam Lawson would do in the private test and also evaluate Yuki Tsunoda as well.

Interestingly Daniel Ricciardo was not mentioned in the conversation, probably owing to a poor run of form all season. Marko said:

“First we have to see. Lawson is testing at Silverstone on Thursday. And yeah, so two more races and there will be more outings with Lawson. There’s also Yuki Tusnoda who is doing very well."

Perez has been a part of Red Bull since 2021 and the Mexican has been a crucial part of the team as well. The driver helped Max Verstappen win the title in 2021 with his defensive driving and has been part of the team's success story.

Having said that, his departure seems imminent at this stage as the performances have not improved as much as they should.