Because the 2024 season neared its finish, Crimson Bull workforce principal Christian Horner admitted his resolution handy Sergio Perez an early contract extension in June “clearly didn’t work.”
Having been comprehensively overwhelmed by workforce mate Max Verstappen for a lot of 2023, their third season alongside one another, Perez bought his 2024 marketing campaign off to a promising begin. However his type nose-dived quickly afterwards and Crimson Bull discovered themselves inundated with questions over whether or not they would do a U-turn over their resolution to increase his contract till the top of 2026.
As the ultimate race approached, Crimson Bull lastly admitted his place could be reviewed after the top of the season. After he was blamelessly eradicated on the primary lap of the season finale, Perez stated they are going to focus on “what’s greatest for everybody going ahead.”
After the season he’s had, it’s exhausting to think about Crimson Bull persevering with with him for one more, not to mention two. Right here’s how dangerous it bought for Perez in 2021.
One good quarter
Perez ended the season in such poor type it was simple to miss the very fact he made a decent begin to the championship. When Crimson Bull’s automobile was at its greatest he reeled off 4 podium finishes from the primary 5 races, and accomplished one-twos for the workforce in three of these.
Six factors in he lay second within the standings on 103 factors. Extremely, he scored lower than half that – simply 49 factors – over the remaining three-quarters of the season.
One surprising third
Perez’s type over the ultimate third of the 12 months stood in sharpest distinction to the beginning of the season. From these eight rounds he took simply 9 factors; Verstappen picked up 134 over the identical interval, out-scoring his workforce mate by an element of just about 15.
Throughout that point 11 different drivers scored extra factors than the motive force of the second Crimson Bull, together with the drivers from their closest rivals McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari. The others who claimed extra factors than Perez additionally included Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg (each Haas), Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon (each Alpine). Perez solely picked up one level greater than RB’s Yuki Tsunoda over this era.
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Widest hole in championship
Whereas Verstappen clinched the drivers’ championship with two rounds to spare, Perez put a lock on eighth within the standings on the subsequent spherical. That meant the pair ended the season seven locations aside within the championship – the widest margin of any pair of workforce mates who entered each spherical.
No-scores
Perez failed to attain in any respect in one-third of this 12 months’s grands prix. On 4 of these events he was categorized exterior the factors, together with in Baku the place he collided with Carlos Sainz Jnr.
He went out in a first-lap crash with Kevin Magnussen in Monaco, slid right into a barrier in Canada, spun at a restart in Qatar and was taken out by Valtteri Bottas in Abu Dhabi.
No wins
The 2024 season set a brand new file for competitiveness as seven completely different drivers gained a couple of race every. They got here from 4 completely different groups: McLaren, Mercedes, Ferrari and Crimson Bull.
Perez was the one full-time driver from these groups who didn’t win all 12 months. Crew mate Verstappen took probably the most wins of any driver, with 9.
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By no means completed forward
Perez by no means took the chequered flag forward of Verstappen all 12 months. The one time he out-scored his workforce mate was when a technical drawback took Verstappen out in Melbourne.
Spent least time forward
To complete forward you’ve bought to get forward, and Perez hardly did that. He was the one driver who contested the total season however spent lower than 100 laps forward of his workforce mate. Verstappen led his workforce mate for 1,132 laps, Perez was forward for 77, most of which had been in Baku.
Over the complete season, Perez was forward of Verstappen on-track simply 6.3% of the time – the bottom determine he has recorded over his 4 seasons at Crimson Bull.
Worst share of factors
Perez’s factors rating was the bottom of his time at Crimson Bull, however that’s partly to do with the efficiency of their automobile and their rivals’ as a lot as his.
Extra tellingly, he additionally made his smallest contribution to Crimson Bull’s factors haul since he joined them. He scored simply 25.8% of the workforce’s factors, in comparison with 32.4% in his first season with them.
Verstappen’s championship-winning rating of 437 this 12 months occurs to be precisely the identical as Perez has scored within the final two years mixed: 152 this 12 months and 285 final season.
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Greatest qualifying defeat
Perez solely narrowly prevented a whitewash in qualifying this 12 months. Verstappen out-qualified him 23-1, the widest margin between any pair of workforce mates this 12 months.
The one respite got here in Baku, the place Perez got here out forward after 33 straight losses (together with the second half of 2023). Verstappen had a ragged run by Q3 and ended up two-tenths of a second off his workforce mate.
Greatest lap time deficit
The qualifying contest between the pair was not solely one-sided, Verstappen was comfortably additional forward of his workforce mate every time of asking. Over the season he averaged 0.45 seconds per lap sooner (excluding periods we deemed unrepresentative e.g. on account of rain).
Stats: Perez vs Verstappen in 2024
Season abstract
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Head-to-heads
Qualifying efficiency
Unrepresentative comparisons omitted. Damaging worth: Perez was sooner; Optimistic worth: Verstappen was sooner
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