'You can't just blame Sergio Perez for what goes wrong'
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- Jeroen Immink
Sergio Perez had another difficult weekend this season. Especially given that it was his home GP, it was more painful that the Mexican got eliminated in Q1. On Sunday, he then received a five-second penalty for failing to line up on the grid appropriately. Former F1 driver Jan Lammers believes it now time to give another driver a chance alongside Max Verstappen at Red Bull.
Perez's position has been hughly debated at Red Bull Racing. The Mexican could survive the team's summer internal meeting, but Lammers believes the team would now go against their own philosophy if Perez would stay for next season.
"Yes, I think it is contradictory. Red Bull were the team with the guts to let a 16-year-old boy test. They don't shy away from a challenge. what happens this year, you can't blame Perez. Perez is Perez, and Red Bull thought he could do it. you can also draw energy from that as a driver," Lammers said in an exclusive interview with GPblog.
"They put Perez in this situation. Maybe they should have brought Liam Lawson earlier. They have so many juniors, make use of them earlier. Nyck de Vries was taken out very quickly and Perez may go on for a very long time," Lammers added.
'It has probably already been decided what will happen to Perez'
When he is asked 'what about Checo', Red Bull team principal Christian Horner usually say Perez has a contract for 2025. According to Lammers however, fans should not take that too seriously.
"Yes, Horner gets that question thousands of times too. So what should the man say about it? If something happens, the media will be the last to hear about it. It has probably been decided a long time ago what is going to happen. Of course Perez has a contract. But if you ask if the other party has also signed, in this case they will. But there will undoubtedly be clauses in it."
A name that was mentioned by Helmut Marko to be on the team's radar was Oscar Piastri, who currently has a contract with McLaren. However, the Dutchman believes that is not in the picture at the moment.
"No I don't think so. But Mark Webber who is obviously scanning the market. Because of Webber's connections at Red Bull, you can do small talk and have a coffee. And we make more of that from the outside than it is. But Piastri and Webber can now play with the facts. Piastri still has a contract for two years and then you can discuss what the add-ons are for next year and then you can negotiate your points better," Lammers said.
Lammers pinpoints ideal teammate for Verstappen
If it would be up to Lammers to choose a teammate for Verstappen, it would be Liam Lawson, who recently joined VCARB replacing Daniel Ricciardo. According to the Dutchman, he is ready for the popular seat alongside the three-time world champion.
"With Lawson, I think you have a stable guy. What you need next to Max is someone who is very close on a good day and three tenths on a down day. That's fine and then if you're dealing with a real and stable guy, that's enough. And Lawson seems to be just that. He did let himself go for a bit this weekend by raising his middle finger. i don't know if that's youthfulness, but that doesn't scare Helmut Marko. To cut a long story short, I think Lawson is a good choice," Lammers concluded.
This article was written in collaboration with Kada Sarkozi
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