So much for the Sergio Pérez title challenge.
Little over a month ago Formula 1 was still in the throes of a sweet belief that the championship battle was on. Sergio Pérez had won two of the first four grands prix, both meritoriously over teammate Max Verstappen, and was talking a big game about his campaign.
Even if few were convinced the Mexican would be able to go the distance against the reigning champion, the signs appeared to be there that Pérez was genuinely more at home in this year’s car and more readily able to access a higher level of performance than we’d seen in the last two years.
A championship battle needs only two cars to be great, and Pérez was to be the saviour of a season that was clearly set to be dominated by Red Bull Racing.
But just three races later that idea has collapsed spectacularly.
Any remaining hope was surely extinguished in Canada, where Pérez trailed home sixth, last among the frontrunners bar the crashed George Russell and the 16th-starting Lance Stroll.
His title deficit has exploded to 69 points, now approaching three clear race victories, after just eight rounds.
But his biggest problem isn’t just the whopping gap to Verstappen. He’s also at risk dropping to fourth in the drivers championship if he can’t reverse is painful form spiral.
Fernando Alonso is just nine points behind and Lewis Hamilton is 24 points back, margins that could be comfortably overturned before the mid-season break under the status quo.
Just how bad has Pérez’s form been? Consider the points tally since he won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, drawing himself to within six points of the title lead.
Points scored, Miami to Canada
Max Verstappen: 102 points
Fernando Alonso: 57 points
Lewis Hamilton: 54 points
Sergio Pérez: 39 points
George Russell: 37 points
Had Russell not retired from a podium-contending position in Canada — or had he just been able to limp home in the lower reaches of the points, as he had come so close to doing — he’d have been ahead of Pérez too.
In a car as superior as the RB19, these numbers are a real indictment on the 12-season veteran.
THE MISSING POINTS
It seems cruel to compile a list of mistakes. No driver is immune from error, and it’s worth saying that Pérez is still a high-quality driver capable of poles and race wins and has occasionally on merit beaten Verstappen.
But with a car as good and reliable as his and against a teammate who’s been winning races by close to half a minute, it’s difficult not to count the missed opportunities given the yawning chasm of a points gap.
Four times this year Pérez has failed to finish in the top two in a car that clearly belongs there.
The common thread between all four incidents is a poor qualifying result that left him with too much work to do on Sunday, blowing out the margin.
But Pérez insists that there’s no fundamental flaw in his driving. Instead he says it’s a series of unfortunate circumstances that have blown his campaign off course early.
Australia — started one point down, ended 15 points down
Pérez crashed out of Q1 without setting a representative time, leaving him last on the grid.
He was adamant it was a car problem that caused the lockup that sent him into the gravel, radioing his team immediately that “it was the same f***ing issue again”.
Though he had been experiencing brake problems in practice earlier in the day, the team found no issue in the aftermath and played down the claim.
He recovered to fifth, arguably hampered by the early safety car period that neutralised race strategy.
Monaco — started 14 points down, ended 39 points down
He crashed again in Q1 without a representative time, a Monaco cardinal sin considering the near impossibility of overtaking.
He insisted he had good pace in Monte Carlo — he did finish just 0.073 seconds behind Verstappen in FP3 — but that poor qualifying planning wrong-footed him.
“We decided last minute to go for that lap, and then we had the Alpine just in front of us. We had a lot of tailwind going on in the braking,” he said.
“In hindsight, next time in Monaco in Q1 probably not making those decisions at the last minute will help us.
“I’ve learned basically that I should have taken things a bit easier.”
He finished 16th and outside the points.
Spain — started 39 points down, ended 53 points down
He just scraped through Q1 in a tricky low-grip qualifying session but struggled for a clean lap in Q2. What should have been his final flying lap of that segment resulted in him skipping through the stones, which ultimately cruelled his chances.
“Once we lost it, the tyres were too warm, too hot, and I couldn’t get them back to a good temperature window,” he said. “I just didn’t have the grip on my final lap.
“It was a shame. Conditions were tricky and I ended up losing the car.”
He started 11th and finished fourth.
Canada — started 53 points down, ended 69 points down
A slightly clumsy qualifying tyre strategy in mixed conditions meant he missed the optimal window in Q2 to set a time.
“It was basically half a lap too late and the track position was really poor with the Alfa Romeo ahead,” he said, per Autosport.
“Once the tyres were up to temperature on the slick, it started raining harder, so we decided to box. Then, when we went onto the inter, it was all a bit too late.”
He was eliminated in 12th and had the pace to recover to only sixth, behind both Ferrari drivers.
THE TIPPING POINT
With the exception of his Australian Grand Prix problems, the cause of which appears debatable, the remaining three poor weekends all have one thing in common other than qualifying.
They all came after the Miami Grand Prix.
On the one hand, you might consider Miami as Pérez’s last representative weekend given he finished second, the bare minimum for his car.
But on the other hand, he was comfortably defeated by Verstappen despite the Dutchman starting ninth on the grid after a qualifying mistake and a badly timed red flag.
It was an open goal for Pérez, a golden gift for him to take the championship lead for the first time in his Formula 1 career.
Instead he was easily and humiliatingly passed late in the race.
He was able to console himself with the fact that, in retrospect, he was on the wrong tyre strategy. Verstappen had what turned out to be the correct one despite it appearing to have been a gamble pre-race.
But that sort of defeat from so far back must nonetheless be rattling, especially for a driver yet to feel the full heat of a one-on-one title fight.
The sort of pressure to respond must be debilitating. Certainly it looks that way.
Perez hasn’t been able to put together one clean qualifying lap since Verstappen destroyed him in Miami, and his race performances have been well off the pace too.
After all, Verstappen started the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in 15th and was able to recover to second by halfway through the race. Every circuit is different and circumstances change, but Pérez hasn’t been able to attain that level of pace in the last month.
In Spain and Canada he made up seven and six places respectively, from 11th to fourth and 12th to sixth.
Canada was arguably the worst of those given the RB19’s strong straight-line speed should’ve made overtaking easier for him than the high-speed downforce-dependent bends of Barcelona.
Perhaps that’s why he was finally forced to admit that he was missing something after the race.
“We just didn’t have the pace today,” he said, per Autosport. “We did struggle.
“Basically under braking [is the main problem]. I think the ride hasn’t been great, so under braking I think was the biggest thing.
“And it is where we think we need to come on top of and make sure that we are able to figure out what’s happening and then come back strong.”
But even in his attempt at defiance in the face of adversity he was forced to admit a grain of doubt about his chances.
“I think it’s something that mentally you have to be strong — and I’m strong,” he said. “I know I will overcome this difficult period.
“But it’s a little bit more concerning not having the pace.
“I really hope that we are able to get back to our form.”
Pérez is capable of more than he’s shown in the last month of racing. He doesn’t have to execute a miraculous title comeback to validate himself, but he does have to show some fight to be worthy of his machinery.
