F1: Perez will race in Brazil but beyond that looks uncertain, says Horner

Sergio Perez climbed into his car for the Mexico City Grand Prix as nearly 155,000 fans at his home race shouted “Checo! Checo! Checo!” in adoration of the wildly popular Formula 1 driver.

It was a critical race for the slumping Perez — he said repeatedly all weekend it is his favorite event of the year — and he knows his job is in danger because of his lack of performance.

However, Perez could not deliver for his hopeful fans or Red Bull Racing. After a 17th-place finish on Sunday, team principal Christian Horner would not guarantee Perez will finish the season.

Horner had been emphatic two days earlier that the contract extension Perez signed earlier this year was valid for 2025. But he has performance clauses in his existing contract, and when The Associated Press asked Horner directly if Perez would finish this season, Horner refused to endorse the driver for the final four races.

“There comes a point in time that difficult decisions have to be made,” Horner said. “We’re now third in the constructors championship.” Horner did say Perez would be in the car next weekend in Brazil.

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Horner admitted the Mexican “had a horrible weekend” that started when he was eliminated in the first round of Saturday qualifying, relegating him to an 18th-place starting position. Perez was then outside his box at the start and received a five-second penalty.

He later got into a wheel-to-wheel battle with Liam Lawson of Red Bull sister team RB, and the contact caused damage that made Perez’s car uncompetitive.

A win by Carlos Sainz moved Ferrari ahead of Red Bull for second in the lucrative constructor standings and the two-time reigning champions of the prize that pays an estimated $150 million is now a longshot to win it for the third consecutive year.

Red Bull’s slip in that category is largely because of Perez’s failures. He’s eighth in the standings, winless on the year, and crashed out of three races.

“He knows Formula 1 is a results-based business, and you know, inevitably, when you’re not delivering, then the spotlight is firmly on,” Horner said. “When anyone is underperforming, there is always going to be scrutiny on that. You know, as a team, we need to have both (drivers) scoring points.”

Max Verstappen has scored 362 points this season; Perez has scored just 150.

“We’re working with him as hard as we can to try and support him,” Horner said. “We’ve done everything that we can to support Checo, and we’ll continue to do so in Brazil next weekend. But there comes a point in time that you can only do so much.”

Perez, although disappointed with his weekend, didn’t sound like a driver worried about his job. “This has been a complicated weekend,” he said. “I always say it’s my dream to win the grand prix in Mexico and I’ll try again next year.

“After all of the support from all of these fans, it’s incredible. They have given me so much, it’s all worth it for them. We’ll try again for them next year stronger,” said Perez.