Perez given shot in the arm as bold prediction made

Ex-F1 driver David Coulthard believes embattled Red Bull driver Sergio Perez can win for the Milton Keynes team this season - if he re-captures his form, which has been left wanting of late.

Damningly, the 34-year-old is the only driver from the top four teams - and top eight in the drivers' championship - yet to reach the top step of the podium in 2024.

Over the first 14 rounds of the season, Max Verstappen - in the other Red Bull - has taken grand prix victory on seven occasions, exactly half the time.

Meanwhile, McLaren's duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri became the first team-mates to earn their maiden win in the same F1 season since Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya for Williams in 2001.

Perez's wretched run of form came to a head following Belgian Grand Prix. With crunch talks planned for the day after, it was widely expected the Mexican driver would be replaced by either Daniel Ricciardo or Liam Lawson.

However, in a stunning turn of events, Coulthard's former team opted to stick by Perez, with the Scotsman arguing the six-time grand prix winner can triumph again for the Milton Keynes squad.

"Of course it's possible," the 53-year-old exclusively told RacingNews365 when asked if he believed there could be more winners come season's end, before turning his attention to Perez.

"Checo [Sergio Perez] has been off-form of late, but he's a grand prix winner, and if he rediscovers form, then why can't he win again?"

F1 can be 'satisfied' with number of different winners this season

In stark contrast to last season, which saw Verstappen win 19 of 22 races, with Carlos Sainz as the only non-Red Bull victor, 2024 has burst into life - despite the Dutchman winning four of the first five rounds.

At the subsequent nine grand prix - up to the summer break - five drivers won their first race of the year. With Sainz winning in Australia, a Perez win would mean eight different drivers on the top step this season.

The record across one F1 campaign is 11 from 1982, which saw nine consecutive races feature a different winner in just 16 rounds. 

The recent high-water mark is 2012, with eight, and when seven drivers claimed victory in the opening seven rounds. Whilst all but one of those names was already a grand prix winner, Pastor Maldonado's Spanish Grand Prix success for Williams was an outlier.

Coulthard feels there is potential for another "lucky" win this season, much like Pierre Gasly's 2020 Italian Grand Prix triumph, or his own example - Esteban Ocon at the Hungaroring the following year.

However, even if that does not come to pass, the Scotsman believes F1 can be "satisfied" with the variety already seen in 2024.

"I think there's going to be other guys that maybe get the lucky win. We've seen it with Alpine three years ago with [Esteban] Ocon in Hungary," the 13-time grand prix winner added.

"So, there's always that sort of random race as well. But already, in terms of Formula 1 history, we've seen more winners now that we have in a long time, so we can kind of be satisfied with that."

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