Perez qualifying issues leave sponsorship DILEMMA for Red Bull

Silverstone's Saturday brought another notable Q3 absentee from Formula 1 qualifying, as Sergio Perez's run of single-lap humiliation continued with a lowly P16 effort.

The Mexican played the number two driver role well in his first season with Red Bull – the blockbuster 2021, where Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton went toe-to-toe – but Perez seems a shadow of that man today.

Red Bull can consider themselves lucky that Adrian Newey's RB19 is one of the best cars the famed engineer has created, and Verstappen's form is equally as impressive, or else the Milton Keynes squad would struggle to take the constructors' crown this year thanks to Perez's problems.

P20, P11, P12, P15, and now P16 — these read like qualifying results from an Alfa Romeo or Haas, not the best car on the grid, and that's what Perez has brought to the table for the last five rounds of 2023.

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Different roles

If Red Bull had competition out front, you have to wonder where Perez, and therefore, his team, would be in the standings and how many points the likes of Mercedes, Aston Martin, Ferrari, and even now McLaren would've taken from them.

A recovery drive here and there is part of the sport, with Verstappen's Miami round a shining example of making the most of a bad qualifying; Charles Leclerc's Q3 crash meant Verstappen started from 9th, but the Dutch driver still won the race.

However, having most of your Sunday drives be afternoons of picking up the pieces? That's unacceptable for any Formula 1 driver, let alone one racing for the paddock's best team.

Australia, Monaco, Spain, Canada, Austria, and Great Britain represent six of the ten rounds so far, and they're all weekends where Red Bull's strategists had to scratch their heads far more than they should've, with one of their drivers starting from avoidable bottom 10 starting positions.

Years like 2023 show how much Valtteri Bottas brought to Mercedes in his five seasons at the Silver Arrows by being the ever-present and reliable force that almost always started any race from the top three positions.

Perez is showing that he doesn't have that Bottas-like metronomic consistency to make his employer's job any easier. If any employee in any profession isn't performing at a level that helps the hand that feeds, you must wonder how long the paymasters will keep them around.

Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly know a thing about Christian Horner's patience for a driver that isn't meeting Red Bull's lofty standards, with both racers punted back down to Toro Rosso (now AlphaTauri) after failing to fulfil their potential.

Even the most fervent Mexican fan must admit Perez isn't anywhere near the level he could or should be. That doesn't mean matching or beating Max Verstappen, but it does mean coming second-best in most races.

Money talks

I believe if Red Bull had complete control of Perez's career, as with his predecessors Gasly and Kvyat, the reigning champions would be weighing up Yuki Tsunoda or Daniel Ricciardo right about now.

Gasly lasted 12 rounds of 2019 before his demotion, and Kvyat had just four 2016 races in Red Bull overalls, but the Austrian manufacturer controlled their entire careers.

By comparison, Horner gambled by bringing in an external name. Perez might've helped in sponsorship, with Claro, Telcel, and even Walmart all adding their logos to the car in the year he joined, but it could hurt Red Bull in their points tally should the chasing pack close further in.

One suspects that these giant players in the Mexican market might send their lawyers with something to say should Perez, whose contract will expire at the end of 2024, not be in a Red Bull car during their agreed sponsorship period.

Should that suspicion be correct, Red Bull must continue fighting their Sundays with one hand behind tied their back and leave Verstappen without regular rear gunner support.

That might be tolerable for 2023, but with the other nine teams showing how tight the grid is in this current era, Perez's qualifying failings might cost Red Bull one or both championships in 2024.

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