Red Bull Motorsport Advisor Helmut Marko has warned Sergio Perez must improve his qualifying form to remain with the team. But the Austrian has insisted there would be no sense in changing the Mexican immediately, despite his lack of form. Perez has held onto second in F1's Drivers' standings despite having to fight back from poor qualifying positions. Whilst teammate and runaway championship leader Max Verstappen has taken five pole positions in a row, Perez has failed to reach Q3 during the same period and with his race results taking a hit, the gap in the standings now stands at 99 points after 10 races. Red Bull's revolving door was started again after the British Grand Prix with third driver Daniel Ricciardo promoted in place of Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri, following the Dutchman's own struggles at the back of the field.
'Wouldn't make sense'
Assessing Perez's future as Verstappen's teammate, Marko told de Telegraaf : "Checo is second in the world championship, so it wouldn't make sense to want to get rid of him now. "His race was also good at Silverstone, but he needs to improve in qualifying." Ricciardo is expected to be an added factor of pressure for Perez looking forward to next season, but Marko is adamant the eight-time Grand Prix winner must no prove himself in the AlphaTauri. "We have to see from Ricciardo how he compares to Tsunoda," added Marko. "I think Yuki is underestimated by a lot of people. The AlphaTauri is not the easiest car to drive, but Yuki has proven that it is possible to achieve good results."
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