Christian Horner’s blunt Sergio Perez Spa verdict with Red Bull axe looming

Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen.

Failing to convert his front row grid slot into a podium finish, Christian Horner says Sergio Perez fell short of the “objective” set by Red Bull ahead of Monday’s crunch talks.

Although Perez recorded his best qualifying performance since his back-to-back P2s in Japan and China at Spa on Saturday, the Mexican driver was unable to convert that into a strong race performance.

Has Sergio Perez contested his final race with Red Bull?

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Lining up second on the grid after inheriting a place when Max Verstappen, who was quickest in qualifying, was demoted to P11 by an engine penalty, Perez never once looked in a position to fight for the podium.

Falling away from the lead, he began to lose positions and eventually finished seventh to Verstappen’s P4 despite starting nine places ahead of the reigning World Champion.

With Oscar Piastri second and Lando Norris fifth for McLaren, the result dealt another telling blow to Red Bull’s lead in the Constructors’ Championship which has dwindled to 42 points.

Horner says Perez failed to reach the objective set by the team, which was to finish on the podium.

“Starting on the front row, objective really was, pre-race, we felt that third and fifth would be achievable,” the team boss told the media, including PlanetF1.com.

“We achieved the fifth [before George Russell’s DSQ], but we didn’t achieve the third. So we obviously need to go through the data understand where his loss of pace was.”

Horner refuted suggestions Perez was undone by the timing of his second pit stop where he pitted earlier than expected to free Verstappen who had been running in his dirty air.

“I think I have a bearing in mind Russell did a one-stop, it shouldn’t really have affected him too much,” Horner insisted. “So at that point when you’re looking at ‘okay, what’s our options, how do we put pressure on the cars ahead?’

“It obviously gave track position to Carlos Sainz but unfortunately it didn’t pan out.”

Sergio Perez’s growing deficit to Max Verstappen laid bare

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

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

Sergio Perez’s future on the agenda for Monday Red Bull meeting

Perez’s lacklustre result came on the eve of a crunch meeting of the Red Bull bosses who will sit down on Monday to discuss the driver situation amongst other topics.

With Perez having missed the reported magic 100-point deficit to Verstappen required in his contract to avoid talk of him being demoted, the driver is facing an uncertain future.

“We’ve got a meeting tomorrow [Monday], but it’s not just about Checo,” Horner said.

“It’s going to have other topics on the agenda as well, which we always do going into the summer break.

“For us, the focus is on the Constructors’. That we’ve seen another seven or eight points taken off us again today, we need to turn that around coming out of the break in Zandvoort.”

“Checo’s had a tough run over the last few races,” the Briton added. “What’s so confusing for us is the season started so well for him, and then tailed off.

“He did a great job, a super job in qualifying. We need to go through and understand the issues in the in the race.

“We’ve got the time to do that and analyse that and work with him.”

Red Bull will run Daniel Ricciardo and Liam Lawson in a filming day at Imola on Wednesday which could decide which of the two replaces Perez, if of course Red Bull do decide to drop him.

Read next: Follow PlanetF1.com’s WhatsApp channel for all the F1 breaking news!