Red Bull will support Perez amid Marko’s warning

Red Bull Chief Engineer Paul Monaghan has insisted the team will offer its full support to Sergio Perez despite Motorsport Advisor Helmut Marko’s warning over his 2024 seat.

Perez started the current campaign in strong fashion, winning two out of the opening four rounds of the campaign to take the battle to teammate Max Verstappen.

But struggles began with a qualifying crash in Monaco and the Mexican missed out on five consecutive Q3 sessions, although he did take podiums in the Hungarian and Belgian races just before the summer break to restore confidence.

Questions were raised over his future at the team as the deficit between himself and Verstappen grew in the championship standings, with the latter now holding a lead of 125 points.

Red Bull Motorsport advisor Marko has suggested "nothing is 100 per cent certain in F1" at the Dutch Grand Prix, hinting that Perez’s seat for 2024 could be in danger despite his own insistence, along with Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner's, that he held a contract for next season.

Red Bull will support Perez

The two podiums before the summer break provided optimism of a return to consistent form for Perez and insisting the team would support him in any way, Monaghan told media including RacingNews365.com: "Confidence between drivers will ebb and flow.

"You see it in other teams and you'll see it in our one. Don't forget that Checo won in Azerbaijan.

"He stuck it on pole in Miami and then the confidence flowed to Max in the race.

"So it will bounce between the two. Checo has never been down in the dumps after a race. He might reflect on it and think it wasn't in his best race, that's within his right to do so.

"But he comes back the following race weekend, he’s confident, he's chirpy and he's a wonderful element within our team. We will support him with everything we've got.”