“He simply must preserve doing what he is doing,” says Crimson Bull boss of Sergio Perez, as hypothesis over 2025 driver market continues.
Lewis Hamilton’s shock transfer to Ferrari already assured that this 12 months’s version of ‘who goes the place’ could be significantly thrilling – particularly when the road up in Bahrain was precisely the identical because it had been just a few months earlier in Abu Dhabi.
However then got here the Horner saga and the opportunity of a emptiness at Crimson Bull additionally.
In fact, even earlier than he’d claimed his fourth pole of the season and third win, no one actually purchased into the ‘Max to Mercedes’ or ‘Max to Aston Martin’ nonsense, however there remained the query mark over the second seat at Crimson Bull.
Although Sergio Perez lastly received his act collectively and helped his crew to its first ever 1-2 within the championship final 12 months, the Mexican’s kind over the course of the ’23 season had been erratic, and it was clear that the Austrian outfit wouldn’t tolerate extra of the identical.
Aside from a blip in Bahrain, his qualifying kind this season has been higher, and on Saturday he gave his teammate a run for his cash, whereas on Sundays he has claimed three seconds, together with a powerful drive in Japan.
Consequently, Christian Horner insists that the most important think about whether or not Perez retains his seat for a fifth season is the Mexican himself.
“His confidence is excessive, he is very centered on the job at hand, and he is snug within the crew,” stated the Briton at race finish on Sunday. “He is aware of he is out of contract for subsequent 12 months, and it is his seat to lose, he is very fashionable within the crew, and he is began the season in the absolute best method.
“He simply must preserve doing what he is doing,” he added.
This weekend Perez has been significantly feisty, lacking out on pole by simply 0.066s, and having to get well after being undercut by Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc switching to a one-stop technique.
Dropping to sixth after his first cease, the Mexican needed to make some daring strikes in his bid to get again to the entrance together with successive passes within the infamous 130R on the Mercedes pair.
“There have been a few moments the place, I need to admit, I had my eyes shut as he went into 130R,” stated Horner. “‘Do it’s essential to do it there? Cannot you wait till the straight?’ He did not seem like he had three youngsters when he made that transfer!”
Regardless of the earlier hypothesis over Verstappen’s departure that exact little story has gone quiet of late whereas (F2 star) Kimi Antonelli is one among a number of drivers linked with Mercedes, together with Carlos Sainz.
“The entire driver market appears to be very early this 12 months,” stated Horner. “Everyone appears to be speeding round and we’re solely 4 races into the 12 months.
“We’re not in an enormous rush,” he added, “and clearly there is a important quantity of curiosity in our vehicles, as you’d anticipate, however Checo has the precedence and it should be just a few extra races but earlier than we begin to consider subsequent 12 months.”
“Final 12 months, Japan particularly was Sergio’s worst race,” Helmut Marko subsequently advised Sky Germany. “Every little thing went incorrect then, so I feel it is significantly satisfying for him.
“You may see he can do it,” he added. “However maybe it additionally performs a task that subsequent 12 months’s contracts are at stake, this 12 months a lot sooner than regular. That additionally appears to be very motivating.”
Try our Sunday gallery from Suzuka here.
