Red Bull should “take a risk” and drop Sergio Perez as half of the drivers on the 2024 F1 grid are likely to “perform better” alongside Max Verstappen.

This is the belief of former F1 driver Marc Surer, who says Perez has “lost his confidence” as he struggled to cope with the Red Bull RB20.

Who could do a better job than Sergio Perez at Red Bull?

Although Perez only signed a new two-year contract in June, he was almost dropped by Red Bull during the recent summer break due to poor form.

The Mexican driver started the 2024 F1 season with four podiums in five races, but has never finished higher than seventh since the Miami Grand Prix in early May. A widely rumored performance clause in Perez’s contract gives Red Bull the freedom to replace him after last month’s Belgian GP.

Despite falling a massive 146 points behind Verstappen at Spa, Red Bull has opted to keep Pérez in the team for the second half of the 2024 F1 season, which begins this weekend with the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.

In an address to Red Bull staff, team boss Christian Horner confirmed Perez’s stay and said the team “looks forward to seeing him racing at circuits where he has performed well in the past” – a reference to Perez’s victories in Baku and Singapore in 2012/23 and 2022 respectively.

It remains to be seen whether Red Bull will reconsider the situation over the course of the final ten races if Perez cannot find his form, as the team currently holds a 42-point lead over McLaren in the Constructors’ Championship.

Surer, who made 82 F1 starts between 1979 and 1986 for teams including Arrows and Brabham, has claimed that “half the field” would “probably perform better” than Perez.

And he admitted that he would have replaced the 34-year-old during the racing break in August as Perez was unable to tame the RB20 like Verstappen.

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He told the German Motorsport Total: “Any driver can deliver the performance that Sergio Perez delivers. I would have done something about it.”

“All I’m saying is that half the Formula 1 field would probably do better, so why not take the risk and put a different driver in the car?

“If the car is easier to drive, yes, then Perez is someone who can beat Max. He is someone who can handle an understeering car very well.”

“Now the car is obviously doing both. It’s oversteering and understeering. It’s doing everything it shouldn’t be doing. Max can handle it, but Perez can’t.

“In addition, he has probably also lost his self-confidence, which is very important in racing.”

Following Red Bull’s decision to keep Pérez, rumours suggested that F1 owner Liberty Media had intervened to persuade the team to keep him ahead of Pérez’s home race in Mexico on October 27.

PlanetF1.com is aware that these claims are completely false.

Asked about suggestions of Liberty involvement, Surer claimed it would be easier for Perez to find a place for F1 2025 if he was dropped by Red Bull at the end of 2024 than if he lost his place in the middle of the season.

He said: “If they kick him out at the end of the year, maybe he can find a job with another team. It would be less of a problem for Mexico if he was kicked out at the end of the year.”

According to reports from Germany last week, Perez could still be a candidate to join Audi/Sauber in F1 2025 if he is released by Red Bull.

Perez made his F1 debut with the Swiss team in 2011 and achieved a total of three podium finishes before being signed by McLaren in 2013 as Lewis Hamilton’s successor.

However, current incumbent Valtteri Bottas recently made it clear that he will remain in the team alongside new signing Nico Hülkenberg by posting a picture of his number 77 emblazoned on an Audi road car on social media.

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