Perez guaranteed to fall short of rumoured Red Bull contract clause

Sergio Perez now has no way of fulfilling one of the rumoured performance clauses in his Red Bull contract.

The Mexican driver is facing an uncertain few weeks as his disappointing run of form means he can no longer reach the F1 summer break within 100 points of Max Verstappen in the drivers' standings.

RacingNews365 understands this is one of the stipulations laid out in his recently-extended deal with the Milton Keynes team.

The 34-year-old finds himself on 124 points for the season thus far, with his team-mate already on 265. 

Even if Perez collects all 26 points on offer at the final race before the annual summer shutdown and Verstappen fails to score, he will be 15 points short of his target.

After a strong start to the campaign, which saw Perez back up the Dutchman en route to four one-two finishes in the opening five rounds, his form has dropped off. With 13 grand prix completed, he is the only driver in the top eight without a victory this year.

Speculation over his future with the constructors' champions has ramped up in recent weeks, with pressure on Perez growing to improve his performances on track.

The post-Belgian Grand Prix summer break has been slated as somewhat of a review period for Red Bull, with Perez at risk of being demoted to RB - or dropped from a race seat altogether.

In the seven rounds running up to the weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, the six-time grand prix winner scored 21 points. In that period, Verstappen took 129, which is more than Perez has achieved all season.

To make matters worse for the Mexican, another one of his rumoured contract clauses is that he must be within five places of his team-mate in the drivers' championship come the summer break.

After Lewis Hamilton's third-place finish at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Perez is now seventh in the standings, one point behind the British driver.