‘Not worthy’ Sergio Perez never recovered from ‘mega knockout’ at Red Bull, claims F1 pundit

Deemed “not worthy” of a Red Bull seat, Dutch pundit Tom Coronel claims Sergio Perez never recovered from declaring his F1 2023 title ambitions and getting a “mega knockout”.

While F1 2024 started positively for Perez – who scored three runner-up results across the opening five rounds – his pace would soon tail off in an alarming way, to the point that he was at serious risk of being shown the Red Bull exit door over the summer break, with McLaren cutting Red Bull’s Constructors’ Championship lead to 42 points.

Tom Coronel blasts Sergio Perez and Red Bull

Perez had only signed a new multi-year deal ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix, but Red Bull ultimately did not decide to part ways, retaining Perez for after the summer break, a decision from Red Bull which Coronel cannot understand.

F1 2024 marked a change in approach for Perez who – unlike in previous years – did not talk up his ability to mount a title challenge against three-time World Champion team-mate Max Verstappen, but Coronel claims the failed 2023 title challenge is a setback which Perez has not gotten over.

Despite coming in as runner-up in the standings, Perez was a huge 290 points behind Verstappen in the final standings.

“It’s silly to keep shooting at the same person every time. But yes, I have no choice. He really does it all to himself anyway,” Coronel said of Perez to Formule1.nl .

“Last year he was still shouting he could become World Champion. Then he got back a mega knockout on the nose and he never got over that. Indeed, it only seems to be getting worse.

“With him, it’s all just-not. And that means you should be in a B-team, not an A-team. I still don’t understand why they gave him a new contract. Bizarre! He is not Red Bull-worthy. Not as a person and certainly not as a driver. He proves it again and again; results and standings don’t lie.

“For me, Perez is a big fail. This is no longer justifiable.”

F1 2024: Max Verstappen v Sergio Perez head-to-heads

👉 F1 2024: Head-to-head qualifying record between team-mates

👉 F1 2024: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

With the F1 2024 campaign set to resume with the Dutch Grand Prix, Perez said he is feeling “refreshed” by the summer break.

And he will have a different race engineer in his ear, as Hugh Bird temporarily steps aside on paternity leave. Richard Wood – a performance engineer with Red Bull for 11 years – steps up as Perez’s race engineer.

“I am looking forward to getting back in the car this weekend,” said Perez.

“The summer break was very important for everyone in the team and the whole sport. With so many races now, everyone needs the rest and reset time more than ever.

“I spent my time in Mexico with family and I feel refreshed and ready to go for the second half of the season. I know all my team feel the same, I have been in Milton Keynes this week with them.

“Everyone will notice a change on the radio on our side of the garage in Zandvoort, Hugh my race engineer is expecting a baby very soon so will be spending some time at home and I wish him and his family the best of luck with their new arrival!

“Woody, my performance engineer will step up in the meantime. I know what we can extract from the car in the coming weeks and we will do our best to maximise the second half of 2024.”

Read next – Five big Dutch GP questions: Red Bull’s RB20 performance, F1 driver market and more