It has been a tough old year for Sergio Perez, with his future in F1 a constant topic of speculation.
Even now, following RB's decision to replace Daniel Ricciardo with Liam Lawson for the final six grands prix of the year, there is renewed conjecture that if the New Zealander performs well enough he will partner Max Verstappen at Red Bull in 2025.
That is despite Perez signing a new one-plus-one deal in June that seemingly afforded him a relative degree of certainty for next year at the time, only for Lawson's promotion to again plant seeds of doubt.
Perez has not only failed to win a grand prix this season, he has not been on the podium for the last 13 races. The Mexican is currently languishing in eighth position in the drivers' championship, almost 200 points behind team-mate Verstappen.
It would account for the fact that in the latest RacingNews365 poll, he has been overwhelmingly branded 'the biggest disappointment of 2024', accounting for a third - 33.58% to be exact - of the total votes cast.
Perez received more than double the votes for runner-up Stake, the F1 team collecting 15.09% as it has yet to score a point this troubled season with drivers Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu.
Completing the 'podium' was Ricciardo on 11.92%, perhaps unsurprisingly given the inconsistent form he showed with RB that resulted in his early exit after starting the season determined to depose Perez from Red Bull.
Ricciardo finished marginally ahead of the RB20, on 10.46%, the car a shadow of its predecessor that last year won a record-breaking 21 of the 22 races, but has now failed to take the chequered flag in the last eight due to issues the team has struggled to get on top of.
Logan Sargeant, axed by Williams, polled 9.73%, followed by Aston Martin at 9.25%, whilst Alpine collected 6.33%.
Of the 3.65% for 'something or someone else', in the comments section, Christian Horner and Lewis Hamilton were mentioned.
On the seven-time F1 champion, Zeffy wrote: "The supposedly greatest of all time annihilated like a rookie in qualifying by a journeyman is undoubtedly the most disappointing of the year."
Also interesting:
It has been a year since Max Verstappen won his third F1 title - with six grands prix to spare. Now Verstappen is in a fight this year, and with Red Bull under pressure to deliver him a car to retain his crown. Join RacingNews365's Ian, Sam and Nick as they discuss this and more ahead of the final six races.
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