Sergio Perez admitted at his house Mexican race that his 2024 Formulation 1 season had been “horrible” – and having scored simply two factors within the three rounds since, little has modified.
Hypothesis about Perez’s future within the crew has endured all year long. After starting the season with an sufficient run of kind in supporting Max Verstappen, his outcomes had regressed dramatically after the Miami spherical at the beginning of Could. He has scored simply 49 factors within the races since.
In distinction to previous attitudes from the crew, Pink Bull has been on the lookout for any excuse it will probably to maintain the Mexican; his a well-liked presence within the crew, and his place there’s augmented by help from Mexican companies, most notably together with the Slim household.
Moreover, Perez has confirmed he can carry out at Pink Bull, however these outcomes have dried up significantly over the previous seven months. He hasn’t graced the rostrum since April, hasn’t received a race since April 2023, and has suffered six Q1 eliminations this season.
However one of many greater indicators of his drop-off this season is in his common hole to Verstappen on the chequered flag.
In every of his 4 seasons, Perez has been considerably behind Verstappen on the finish of a race. We’ve got calculated the common hole per season, eradicating anomalies and normalising any gaps above 60 seconds (when not thought-about anomalous) to simply 60 seconds to account for any time loss in being lapped, or different points offered when behind.
In 2021, Perez’s first 12 months at Pink Bull, he maintained a median ending hole to Verstappen of 29.983s. Incessantly separated from his team-mate by the 2 Mercedes vehicles and normally both a Ferrari or Lando Norris, Perez had a low-key first 12 months on the crew.
The hole between Verstappen and Perez was at its smallest in 2022
Picture by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Pictures
A alternative for Alex Albon, Perez didn’t reveal a very large step up in efficiency, however he at the very least provided Verstappen extra constant help.
This continued into 2022, the place Perez’s 11.997s common hole to Verstappen was at its lowest. The character of the RB18 performed into his fingers at the beginning of the season, though the shift ahead from a impartial dealing with steadiness with the automobile’s improvement began to favour Verstappen extra.
A sub-12s common hole is similar to a few of the extra feted Quantity One/Quantity Two driver mixtures, like Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello over 2000-2004 (Schumacher 10.754s forward on common) or Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas between 2017-2021 (Hamilton forward by 11.025s).
The opening rounds of the subsequent season continued at that tempo, however Perez’s colossal drop in kind in the course of the center portion of the season led to an final determine of 20.157s. It was solely the constant competitiveness of the RB19 versus the larger fluctuations of the opposite vehicles that helped him in the end obtain second within the drivers’ championship.
After Las Vegas, Perez’s common hole to Verstappen on the flag this 12 months is 34.890s – which is colossal. Via too many poor qualifying outcomes and a normal lack of tempo post-Miami, this has left Perez languishing within the decrease reaches of the factors and the midfield.
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Altogether, this brings Perez’s common throughout the 4 seasons as Verstappen’s team-mate to 24.257s between them. That is the biggest cut up between champion and team-mate since 1995, though that could be a season admittedly troublesome to calculate as a result of larger attrition in races and wild gaps within the contests each Schumacher and Johnny Herbert accomplished.
Nonetheless, that is a lot larger than the standard gaps between Fernando Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella in 2005-06 (19.326s). It is a conclusion we got here to with our calculations final 12 months, however on the finish of 2023 the general hole between Verstappen and Perez was at 19.931s.
Perez has completed races over 14s additional behind Verstappen in 2024 in comparison with final season. And one could be shocked if this was to enhance if he retains his seat subsequent 12 months, provided that the RB21 is more likely to be an evolution of its predecessor.
On this article
Jake Boxall-Legge
Formulation 1
Sergio Perez
Pink Bull Racing
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