2024 Formula 1 driver rankings #21: Perez · RaceFans

It was hard not to feel a creeping sense of inevitability about Sergio Perez’s position at Red Bull as he slipped worryingly far from Max Verstappen’s pace.

In 2023. But Red Bull were so far ahead of the competition that year Perez’s under-performance didn’t matter. The team would have comfortably won the constructors’ championship with just Max Verstappen’s contribution.

So Red Bull persisted with Perez for one more year – a decision which seemed to be vindicated at first. They still had the car to beat and Perez was still completing Red Bull one-twos on the days their rivals were half a minute behind.

But the growing threat from rival teams exposed Perez as the weak link in Red Bull’s operation. The gap between him and Verstappen widened as the pair found the RB21 increasingly challenging to drive, which ended the team’s hopes of retaining the constructors’ crown.

Perez’s season was depressing to watch. It was already heading downhill when Red Bull handed him a two-year contract extension which he never saw out. From there on it only got worse.

He frequently fell short of reaching Q3 or even Q2 in a car which, on average, was the fastest over a single lap last year. After the sixth round he never achieved a single top five finish. He came off second-best in midfield scraps with the likes of Liam Lawson, his 2025 replacement, and threw away a potentially redemptive podium finish in Baku by tangling with Carlos Sainz Jnr.

Perez is a far better driver than his final performances at Red Bull showed. Sadly he may not get another chance to prove that in F1.

RaceFans’ driver rankings are based partly on the scores awarded to drivers for their performances in each round as well as other factors.

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