Perez handed damning 'failed' grade by F1 champion

Sergio Perez has been accused of failing himself and Red Bull by former two-time F1 champion Mika Hakkinen.

Perez has found himself in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons for the majority of this season following a strong start in which he scored four podiums in the first five races.

The Mexican driver is currently on an 11-race run without a top-three finish, his longest drought since joining Red Bull in 2021.

In early June, the Mexican was handed a new one-plus-one contract to at least see him through to the end of next season.

But as his form dipped, speculation mounted ahead of the recent summer break as to whether he would be retained. That was only quelled when it was announced on the Monday after the Belgian Grand Prix that he would remain for the rest of the season.

Hakkinen, F1 champion in 1998 and 1999 and who won 20 grands prix with McLaren, conceded that he does not find it "pleasant" to criticise another driver, but feels Perez has let down himself and his team of late.

"Formula 1 is a very cruel sport, and there are two drivers in a team who are naturally competing with each other before they start competing against others," said Hakkinen, speaking to Unibet International.

"In this case, the gap between him [Perez] and Max has been increasing constantly. What that means is you don't get the data, you don't get the information from both cars to be able to develop the car as quickly as required.

"That has been a real downside for the development of the Red Bull team, and it's challenging.

"I try to avoid criticising but I just want to tell you the facts - you need two flat-out drivers for the team to be able to compare the data and [make] different adjustments [with] what they do aerodynamically or mechanically to the car.

"You need to constantly compare, and during a race weekend, the time is quite short. Just one car is not able to move the team forward. You need two cars, you need two drivers.

"Sergio has not been able to deliver this for the Red Bull team. It has been influencing the success, and this has been a very negative thing."

Perez not a rookie

This season is Perez's 14th in F1, and fourth with Red Bull, affording him ample opportunity to prove himself more than capable of matching Verstappen on a regular basis.

As it stands, whilst his seat is safe for the remainder of this year, whether Red Bull opts to go ahead with a deal that was only signed three months ago remains to be seen.

Although the RB20 has become a highly problematic car, Perez's performances are playing a key role in the likelihood of Red Bull failing to retain its constructors' title this year, with the gap to McLaren slashed to just eight points.

"Sergio Perez has been in Formula 1 a long time," added Hakkinen. "This is not the first year or second year. He has been there a long time.

"He has had the chance to study himself, to understand himself, what does he need to be the number one, and he has failed to do that.

"I don't want to say he doesn't have a talent to drive. But I think all the other parameters have not been able to support Sergio, to come in at a level where he needs to match Max Verstappen and deliver what the team is requiring him to do to be able to build a winning team."