Marko blames Perez for "collapsing" during his last stint
Red Bull motorsport advisor Dr Helmut Marko has offered his opinion about Sergio Perez's performance at yesterday's Belgian Grand Prix, insisting that the Mexican "collapsed" in his final stint.
Although Max Verstappen dominated the wet conditions in Saturday's qualifying session, setting the benchmark from Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, Red Bull have endured a very difficult Belgian Grand Prix.
A ten-place grid drop meant that the Dutchman only lined up 11th on the grid. While the reigning champion managed to overcome similar grid penalties in the last two years to take dominant victories in 2022 and 2023, he seemingly struggled for pace yesterday and ended up down in P5.
His team-mate Sergio Perez started from second on the grid, but lost out to Lewis Hamilton at the start. Although the Mexican looked strong during the opening stint, he lost out during the first round of pit stops, and he completely lost connection to the leaders due to his very early second tyre change.
Speaking of Perez's performance during the 44-lap Spa race, Dr Helmut Marko told Sky Germany: "Sergio had the opportunity to take a good result from second place. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
"Especially in the last stint, he completely collapsed, where he set 1m48s lap times. What looked so positive in qualifying unfortunately didn't materialise in the race."
Although Perez secured a two-year contract extension beyond 2025, his future at Red Bull has been hanging in the balance following the string of disappointing results.
"For us, the situation is such that we will also go through the overall situation for 2025. We have a number of drivers and we have a concept. But of course every result is [important] for Sergio, and eighth place from second on the grid is certainly not what we expected."
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was understandably not delighted with the result, but he insisted that Max Verstappen managed to extend his lead from Lando Norris in the Drivers' Championship.
"It was a tough race today. We finished 7 seconds behind the leader and over all we struggled. There were some positives though, Max has extended his lead over Lando and Checo brought home fastest lap. But it was a really tight race today.
"We didn’t have a big offset of pace today over the others but, credit to George and Mercedes, I’m not sure they planned to do a one stop but it worked out well for them today.
"We have a lot to reflect on as we go into the summer break. We continue to lead in both the Constructors and Drivers Championships but convergence within the field means the gap is ever closing. We will regroup on Monday, as we always do before a break and look at how we can come back fighting for the second half of the season," concluded Horner.
