Sergio Perez smiles through pain in brutally awkward Verstappen and Ricciardo interview

Sergio Perez had to keep his smile pasted on as he awkwardly stood beside Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo for an interview at Goodwood.

Amidst plenty of rumours about his future, standing right beside his current teammate and the man most likely to take his seat probably wasn’t how Sergio Perez wanted to spend his Sunday off…

Sergio Perez’s smile doesn’t drop after Daniel Ricciardo teammate quip

Red Bull has gone big for this weekend’s Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK, with the F1 team bringing along plenty of its old machinery for demonstration runs up the hill as it celebrates its 20th anniversary.

Earlier on Sunday morning, team boss Christian Horner took the wheel of an ex-Sebastian Vettel RB8, Max Verstappen climbed into the cockpit of his 2021 RB16B, Adrian Newey drove the Red Bull/Aston Martin project Valkyrie of his own design, while former F1 drivers Christian Klien, David Coulthard, and Mark Webber, joined Daniel Ricciardo in piloting older Red Bull F1 cars up the hill.

But the interviews with the drivers in front of Goodwood House led to one eye-opening moment, as Sky F1 broadcaster and former F1 driver Karun Chandhok spoke with Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo.

Speaking about the prospects of taking part in the RAC Tourist Trophy, Verstappen said he’d be up for doing it: “Maybe together with Daniel, it’d be good fun in one car,” before the Dutch driver gave his former Red Bull teammate the side eye.

“Oh, you two could be teammates!” Chandhok replied before the camera zoomed out to show Sergio Perez standing right beside the duo and doing his best to maintain his smile – a battle he just about won.

Watch the cringy moment below!

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Perez, currently Verstappen’s teammate at Red Bull, is coming under increasing pressure to hold onto his seat at the Milton Keynes-based squad, with hints emerging from the Red Bull camp that a change is being evaluated for when the summer break rolls around.

The understanding of Perez’s contract is that he must be within 100 points of Verstappen at the conclusion of the Belgian Grand Prix – the gap is currently 137 points, meaning Perez has two races to close that gap down to ensure Red Bull can’t utilise that clause, if the team desires.

The most likely contender for Perez’s cockpit is Daniel Ricciardo, with the Australian having been brought back into the fold with the VCARB team last year with an eye to keeping him as an option for Perez’s seat if his form proved impressive.

After a slow start to the season, Ricciardo’s form has improved – to the point where Red Bull has little to lose by making a change as Perez has scored just 15 points in the last six races, a position team boss Christian Horner has labelled as “unsustainable”.

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