Hill reveals Perez surprise as bold F1 prediction made

Damon Hill has expressed his surprise at Red Bull's decision to keep the underfire Sergio Perez on for the rest of 2024.

Perez's form has nosedived since the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in May, scoring just 24 points in the eight races since, putting both his F1 future and Red Bull's constructors' crown at threat amid McLaren's challenge.

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko hinted that talks would be held once the summer break started, with the team ultimately opting to keep Perez on alongside Max Verstappen, with the Mexican having signed a fresh two-year deal ahead of the Canadian GP. 

The team is hoping that strong upcoming tracks for Perez in Azerbaijan and Singapore will enable him to arrest the slide in performances, with 1996 world champion Damon Hill admitting his shock at Red Bull not making a change.

"I was a little bit [surprised], I thought that he was [going to lose the seat]," Hill exclusively told RacingNews365. 

"But clearly they think there is potential to get him back to top form again.

"He is underperforming, not deliberately, but for some reason and it would be great if we could find out what that is to help Checo get back into the mix again."

A new winner to join the fray?

Of the top four teams, Perez is the only driver to not win a grand prix thus far in 2024, with the seven winners being the most since eight in the 2012 season. 

Hill believes that the field will continue to converge as some switch attention to settling their 2025 cars that could open the door for a surprise victor.

"I think we're going to see an evolution, coming to the end of this particular formula and regulations," he added. 

"There is going to be an evolution to get the cars into a competitive state as soon as possible so that in 2025, they are not having to work on these cars because they are going to be thinking about 2026 and starting again. 

"You are going to see a massive closing up of the championship, with people at the sharp-end not perhaps putting in as much as some of the others catching up, because they've got the opportunity to catch-up. 

"It is going to be tight, we've had seven different winners, and there is a good chance those seven will have another winner by the end of the year, maybe even some we've never heard of."