“I had no luck“- was what Sergio Perez had said after this year’s British GP as his “gamble” to go on inters failed massively. The Mexican ended up being the last racer to cross the chequered line in Silverstone, bringing 0 points for Red Bull while his teammate, Max Verstappen, won a podium finish. And this has been a common trend for Perez throughout the 13 Grands Prix that have taken place in 2024, thus putting him 7th on the World Championship list with 131 points only. As a driver for the topmost-ranking team in F1, the 34-year-old’s results have baffled almost all the pundits and commentators.

Seeing Perez’s lack of results, his Red Bull Christian Horner has sounded off a warning. The Briton said it is “unsustainable” for Checo to score low when his team is vying for the Championships. So, the F1 town thought Red Bull would soon replace the Mexican with another recruit to save their title bid. But then, Perez took the help of his sponsor, the billionaire businessman Carlos Slim, and somehow managed to keep his RBR seat for now. Despite these efforts, former McLaren coordinator Jo Ramirez claims Checo cannot fool everyone with his excuses about his lack of performance.

Jo Ramirez is no foreigner to the rivalry between F1 teammates as he has witnessed the Alain Prost-Ayrton Senna fight at McLaren firsthand. While those two legends were always giving each other a run for their money, Sergio Perez comes nowhere close to his Red Bull partner Max Verstappen. And Ramirez wants Checo to accept that instead of blaming his results on other factors.

So, F1maximaal quoted the 82-year-old saying, “[Perez] is not a bad driver, but I tell him to always say that the car is perfect, because he’s always complaining about the car, the temperature, the tires. He’s always complaining about something instead of saying, look, Verstappen is a phenomenon and I can’t get close to him.” While Ramirez seems to see through Checo’s blame game, there is another racing personnel who doubts Sergio Perez’s hold on his Red Bull seat is a result of his racing skills–so, what did he say?

Formula E racer critiques Sergio Perez for depending on money rather than talent

Red Bull is infamous for demoting its racers to its sister team, Racing Bulls (previously AlphaTauri), or sacking them based on their lack of performance. However, Sergio Perez has hung on to his contract with the Austrian outfit despite scoring nowhere near the results that Max Verstappen has brought for the team. This has raised questions regarding how powerful the financial backing behind the Mexican must be for Christian Horner’s army to keep him in the squad. Speaking on this, Formula E racer Mitch Evans said, “A lot of those who have the opportunity [in Formula] bring money. Look at Sergio Perez.”

Evans then made a shocking claim that at Red Bull, only Max Verstappen has a seat based on merit while Perez has his job because he brings in loads of funds. The 30-year-old continued, “He [Sergio Perez] keeps bringing money to Red Bull and you can’t compete against him. He’s not a bad driver but you can’t compete against him (Verstappen). It’s difficult to go against a driver who has a seat on merit.”

Thus, Sergio Perez has come under the scrutiny of several people who believe he is staying at Red Bull on borrowed time. Do you think the Mexican racer will see the exit door from RBR ahead of the 2025 season?