Marko on Verstappen’s Red Bull F1 Partner: Perez Not Guaranteed & Announcement at Spa

Sergio Perez joined the Red Bull team at the end of the 2020 season. He has scored 2 podiums, which include a win at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix with the team. But his future with the team is still not secured, and he may end up losing his seat.

Now, Red Bull advisor Dr. Helmut Marko has revealed that the team will announce its driver lineup soon. Marko has stated that the team will announce the driver lineup for both Red Bull and AlphaTauri in the coming races.

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“What I can tell you is that there are a few options”: Helmut Marko

As reported by Nextgen-Auto.com, the Austrian has revealed that Red Bull is looking at options for their second driver. But he stated that Perez is a part of those options and might keep his seat for next season.

“What I can tell you is that there are a few options, we are considering them, but I don’t want to name names,” the Austrian said.

He also gave an update on when the team could make an announcement regarding the drivers.” The first intention would be to continue with the four pilots that we have. For the announcement, it will probably be in Spa or then in Zandvoort if we fall behind. What is already certain is that we will announce our 4 pilots, for both AlphaTauri and Red Bull,” said Marko.

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Red Bull advisor reveals the problem Sergio Perez is facing in the team

Helmut Marko mentioned that according to the data after 11 races, the Mexican is behind Max Verstappen in certain areas. Although Perez has performed better than his predecessors, Gasly and Albon, Max has comprehensively beaten him.

“There is a gap with Max and he’s not happy with it. We would also think he would be closer or more consistent after so many races. He tried to find his own settings instead of using Max’s, and that might be the best thing for a pilot to do. 

“You can’t get too close to Max’s settings. Max doesn’t care when his F1 oversteps in fast corners. But all of our 2nd drivers had problems with that. Perez went through the same thing. He tried his settings, but it didn’t work, it’s a real headache,” stated Marko.

Checo is 83 points behind Verstappen in the championship and has out-qualified his teammate just once this season. Can Perez keep his seat for 2022?