Last week’s Belgian GP seemed like a redemption time for Sergio Perez. Stepping into Spa, the Mexican had almost blown his chances of continuing with Red Bull because of some recent poor performances. But at the Qualifying in Belgium, he performed well and ended up with a P3 position. Checo’s teammate Max Verstappen got the pole position, but because of a grid penalty, he had to start from the 11th place. Hence, Sergio Perez secured a dream front-row start that he completely botched up by finishing the Main Race in P7.

As Checo failed to convert his great starting grid position into a great end result, Red Bull was naturally not happy with him. This started speculations in F1 town regarding the Austrian outfit possibly terminating Sergio Perez’s contract to recruit someone new. However, one of the past colleagues of the Mexican feels that RBR should shoulder some of the blame for Checo’s lack of performance. Bernie Collins, a former Race Strategist, had worked with the 34-year-old during his tenure at Force India and Racing Point. She has spoken to the SkySports’ F1 podcast hosts about the things Red Bull needed to focus on to help the 6-time F1 Grand Prix winner.

Bernie Collins said on Skysports’ podcast, “We’re now in year three of Red Bull potentially winning World Championships, and in none of those years have they really tried to figure [how to] out get the second driver, I think it has been Checo all these years, up to speed.” The former race engineer to Jenson Button continued, “Red Bull has always relied on the car being fast enough that [Max] Verstappen’s just fit to drive off into the sunset.” So, from her point of view, Sergio Perez’s current slump is because his team chronically ignored him and favored Max instead.

With no certainty regarding what Red Bull might do to Sergio Perez, Bernie Collins’ words come down on the team like a sharp whip. However, she has given some solutions to state what the team should have done to help the Mexican racer improve. So, what are they?

Bernie Collins shares lessons for Red Bull to help Sergio Perez

Last year, Red Bull had topped the Constructors’ Championship with almost no competition to stop it. But this time, McLaren, Mercedes, and even Ferrari have shown spurts of speed that prove that the F1 contest is not one-sided in favor of RBR anymore. As of now, Max Verstappen‘s results have helped the team cling to the topmost spot on the points table. But McLaren might soon close its gap of only 42 points to usurp Red Bull. Speaking on how the Milton Keynes team could have avoided this from happening, Bernie Collins gave some pointers.

The former Aston Martin strategist said, “There should have been potentially more foresight to either get that car and driver working of to figure out how do they get the best out of that combination [of Verstappen and Perez].” In her words, Red Bull needed to help both its racers perform well like the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

Now, the summer break has started and there are still no updates from Red Bull regarding Sergio Perez’s imminent future at the team. As per some reports, one of the sponsors of the Mexican has intervened and helped him cling to his spot at the Austrian outfit. What do you think? Should RBR let Perez race for them despite his current performance, or should they go for a fresh recruit such as Liam Lawson? Share below.