$135 million. That’s all F1 teams get to use for a season after the cost cap kicked in a few years ago. After the dominance of bigger teams like Mercedes and Ferrari, F1 realised the trouble bigger teams’ deep pockets gave the sport, and the cost cap came into effect. It meant all development, logistics, and even crashes fell under this budget. Unfortunately for Red Bull this season, it meant dealing with Sergio Perez’s massive crash bill, while a certain Alpine driver ensured his team had no money saved for crashes.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly became one of the few drivers this season to go by without pushing the tally for his crashes over €0 this year.

Gasly’s winning the game of numbers against Sergio Perez

After 21 complex rounds of driving, Gasly is the only driver who has not incurred even one damage and this includes something as simple as a tire puncture. He is amongst the lowest-ranked drivers in the ‘Destructors’ Championship. Pierre Gasly’s position in the ‘Destructor’s Championship’ for 2024 is in stark contrast to the 2023 statistics where he had made it to the standing as the 8th position holder and incurred a total of $2,426,000 in damages.

Reacting to the feat he has been able to achieve, Pierre Gasly said, “I’m so happy, it was a very long season. Kept our nose clean the entire season for no damage so the three targets were completed! I’m just very pleased to see the evolution and how the car’s developed – [it] really shows all the work, and the good work the team has done throughout the whole season. It gives me confidence for next season.”

He is one of the few drivers who has incurred nothing in damages till now. The Alpine driver wrapped up the season with an outstanding performance, securing seventh place in the final Grand Prix of the year. Moreover, Abu Dhabi wasn’t just a miracle performance. It exemplified the Alpine car’s developments throughout the season, with Gasly and Ocon bringing in the team’s best finish of 2024 with a 1-2 in Brazil just a few weeks ago. However, on the other end of the spectrum is Sergio Perez. The Mexican driver has racked up quite a bill from his crashes all season long. 

His most notable incident occurred at the Monaco Grand Prix when he was rear-ended by Kevin Magnussen on the opening lap, a collision that cost Red Bull nearly €2 million. However, Perez’s costly mistakes didn’t end there; the latest blow came at the Hungaroring in Hungary. Following a wet and chaotic Q1 session, Perez pushed too hard through Turn 8, causing him to lose control and crash into the barriers. It made his total bill for the first 13 races of the season to cross an eye-watering €5,000,000.

This figure now places Perez ahead of Alex Albon from Team Williams, who previously held the record for the highest damage bill, amounting to $3 million. The extensive repair list for Perez’s RB20 included a new nose and front wing, rear wing, side pods, and floor, as well as the replacement of both front and rear suspensions. At a time when teams are looking forward to how costs can be minimized so that it can improve the team’s capacity, this seems to be a liability that has put a frown on Red Bull. 

Perhaps it’s one of the reasons why Perez is rumored to exit the team for the 2025 season.

Red Bull may have given Perez’s two-year extension too early

While Sergio Perez has indeed ended up creating a history, it is not for the right reasons. The crashes for the season have been very difficult on the team and it has led to some new twists and turns of events. At the beginning of the 2024 season, Red Bull signed a two-year extension contract with Perez. Given the way the season started and the four-year-long relationship, this indeed seemed like the most likely step for the team. However, Perez has shown a miserable run since then and this has led the entire squad wondering about whether the team wants to continue with the contract.

Perez has been able to add only 45 points after the contract. Heading into the Abu Dhabi weekend, Perez was the only driver from the top four teams—McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull, and Mercedes. His consistent underperformance not only prevented him from reaching the winner’s circle but also contributed to Red Bull’s failure to stay competitive in the 2024 constructors’ championship race.

Team Principle, Christian Horner has been quite vocal about how the team has decided to reconsider post-Abu Dhabi and indulge in a discussion about Perez’s future. He said, “Obviously at the time, Sergio was performing extremely well. I think he had four podiums in the first five races. And in order to settle his mind and extend that run of form for the rest of the season, we elected to go early, which obviously didn’t work. So, that’s just life sometimes. And obviously, this season hasn’t gone to anyone’s plan, particularly with Checo’s performance and since Monaco, it’s been very, very tough for him. And so inevitably, once we get this race out of the way, we’ll sit down and discuss the future” 

For Christian Horner and the rest of Red Bull, the Constructors title seemed in the bag given the early season races. Both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez looked like they were on a good streak of performances. However, with the crashes and poor qualifying performances for Perez, the problem became deeper. Not to mention the winless streak for Verstappen in the middle of the season didn’t help their overall points tally. Come 2025, Red Bull will look to present a more focused strategy to target both trophies.