SILVERSTONE, England — Under-pressure Sergio Pérez did nothing to quieten the noise around his future, spinning out of the first qualifying session at the British Grand Prix.
Pérez ran wide at the Stowe corner and then lost control of his car, getting beached in the gravel in the process.
Pérez , who signed to a new Red Bull deal after the Monaco Grand Prix but has only scored 15 points at the last five races, appears to be on shaky ground at the world champions.
Sources have indicated to ESPN a continuation of his bad form into the summer break could force the team to consider replacing him at the team.
Pérez , who will start from 19th, dismissed the suggestion his mistake was down to the mounting speculation.
“No, no no no, that has nothing to do with it,” he said. “I’m fully focused on my job, I’m fully focused on getting the performance out of myself, I know where I can be, yesterday we had a very positive day, things were looking in the right direction, so yeah, head down and it’s a matter of time before we turn around the situation.”
Asked if he was confident of keeping his place in the team over the coming months, Pérez said: “Yes of course. I’m fully committed to the team, I’m fully committed to my career, I have a contract with the team and I will turn things around, it’s not something that distracts me or anything like that.
“I want to get back to my form and focus on important things.”
Red Bull have grown increasingly alarmed by Pérez’s spiralling form now the field has closed up at the front.
Several hours before Pérez’s exit from Q1, McLaren CEO Zak Brown told the media at Silverstone that Pérez’s rotten streak of results means his team could well fight Red Bull for the constructors’ championship.
Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton locked out the front row ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris, who will start ahead of Max Verstappen in the other Red Bull.
RB drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda would both be in prime position to step up and replace Pérez were that to happen, with New Zealander Liam Lawson then available to replace either of them.
Verstappen was asked about his teammate’s form after the session and specifically the fact he will be fighting Mercedes and McLaren with the other Red Bull so far down the order.
“You know I try not to think about it,” Verstappen said. “At the end of the day, you always have to do it yourself. No-one is going to help you win a race or whatever. You really have to go out on your own strength, and of course it was super unfortunate to lose Checo in Q1.
“From my side, tomorrow is a new day where first of all you have to wait and see what the weather will do as well, but I’m confident that if we have a clean car, let’s say it like that, that we can be in the mix. I’m not saying that we’re going to be the quickest, but at least when we’re in the mix, there is always something possible.”
Source: www.espn.com