The rebound Perez expected “did not materialize” after Mexico was eliminated in the first quarter

Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko has made it clear that Sergio Perez's current performance is not good enough after a dismal qualifying result at the Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix.

Perez was not only overtaken by Max Verstappen for the 23rd time in 24 sessions (sprint qualifying) this year, but also suffered the disgrace of being eliminated in the first qualifying and finished 18th, eight tenths behind his teammate prove – a setback that the Mexican attributed to brake problems.

In a context in which Perez's father Antonio told the Mexican sports newspaper Record that he remains convinced that Sergio will eventually become world champion, Marko reacted to Sky Deutschland: “Well, I honor his father's optimism, but.. .

“I often heard him complaining about brake problems on the radio. We have to see what was going on. But the hoped-for upswing that we all expected unfortunately failed to materialize.”

Perez is already under contract with Red Bull for 2025, but his poor results – 47 points in the last 13 grands prix, compared to 218 for Verstappen – mean there is constant speculation about his future.

Although Red Bull bosses have repeatedly reiterated that the veteran has second place for next year, team boss Christian Horner recently stated that Perez “is at the moment Our Driver for 2025” actually sounds like there is room for change.

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing, Christian Horner, team boss, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Liam Lawson's promotion to RB, replacing Daniel Ricciardo until the end of the season, was certainly done with a view to assessing the youngster for the near future.

But while his RB teammate Yuki Tsunoda is keen to get his second Red Bull start himself, he has yet to convince the Anglo-Austrian squad bosses of his value and his Q2 accident at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez will do him no good Favors.

Marko called the incident “an unnecessary crash” as Tsunoda risked damaging VCARB 01's new floor and being relegated to the back of the grid if parc ferme had to be breached.

Asked if the Japanese driver was too unstable, Marko added: “Well, he had a spin in Austin and now this accident in qualifying.

“We thought he had stabilized, but now that the pressure is coming from Lawson, it’s obviously noticeable.”

Additional reporting by Kevin Hermann