‘Strange’ Sergio Perez predicament could cost Red Bull P3 says Nico Rosberg

How long will Sergio Perez remain a Red Bull driver?

Nico Rosberg finds Sergio Perez’s struggles “very, very strange” and believes one of the reasons behind Liam Lawson’s late-season run is to audition for the “main Red Bull seat”.

Perez’s strong start to the season began to fall apart at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix where he recorded his first qualifying showing outside of the top ten.

Sergio Perez could cost Red Bull P3 in the Constructors’ Championship

In a stark reminder of 2023’s qualifying, Perez fell short of Q3 three weeks in a row but even when he was back inside the top ten, he was struggling to score big points. From Imola to Singapore, 12 races, he managed just 41 which led to rumours that his seat is under threat.

But having survived what was widely expected to be a summer break cull, Perez is facing fresh rumours that he’ll announce his retirement at October’s Mexican Grand Prix in front of his home fans.

As he did in 2023 when that same rumour did the rounds, he has laughed off this year’s too.

That though, doesn’t change the fact that Red Bull’s hopes of winning the Constructors’ Championship or even finishing P2 have been dented by the Mexican driver’s form.

“Red Bull is under threat even to finish third in the Constructors’ Championship, because they really only have one driver, and even that one driver is kind of struggling at times with the car,” 2016 World Champion Rosberg told the Sky podcast.

“And Ferrari do have two drivers. McLaren have two drivers, and that’s kind of making it all the more difficult for them.”

Red Bull trail McLaren by 41 points with Ferrari 34 points down on the reigning World Champions.

Red Bull have not been afraid to wield the axe

All the mid-season driver swaps Red Bull have made in their F1 history

Revealed: The shortest F1 careers this century in the brutal world of Formula 1

It begs the question, why haven’t Red Bull dropped Perez? Rosberg reckons they could still, at least for F1 2025, if Liam Lawson excels in his VCARB audition.

VCARB announced after the Singapore Grand Prix that Lawson would replace Daniel Ricciardo with immediate effect in what is being seen as a six-race audition for a 2025 race seat.

“It’s a difficult situation for them,” Rosberg explained. “The thing is that they don’t really have a replacement either.

“[Yuki] Tsunoda, they don’t see him as quite strong enough to be replacing Perez. Ricciardo is out so there’s not really a replacement, and that’s making it even more difficult.

“It’s also so strange though, with Perez, because we all know he’s a good driver, and he at times was actually challenging Max for the World Championship in small segments, even last year. And now he’s just somehow dropped so far back. It’s very, very strange.

“So anyways, yeah, they’re giving him a chance now until the end of the year, obviously, and I think they still need to review it again then for next year.

“That’s another reason that they want to try Lawson out. Because Lawson if he does amazingly well for these last six races, then certainly he would be considered for the main Red Bull seat for next year.”

His fellow podcast guest Matt Gallagher believes it’s sponsorship that’s saving Perez, especially in light of Red Bull’s previous cutthroat driver decisions.

“I don’t have access to the financial statements within Red Bull, but clearly there are reasons that they’ve kept Perez,” he said. ” Of course, Mexico coming up is a big old pull for that, and we’ve heard many rumors about why he may still be in that seat.

“But look, it’s been a strange kind of transition for me as a fan watching, to watch Red Bull go from this cutthroat ‘driver in, driver out, no, you’re not performing get out to now’ to ‘no, Perez, you can have another season, let’s see how you get on’.

“So there’s clearly a lot more behind the scenes going on there.”

Read next: Daniel Ricciardo ‘twist’ teased despite Sergio Perez F1 retirement denial