Oscar Piastri suggests poor form by Sergio Perez is why McLaren are in the F1 title fight, with Red Bull essentially battling the constructors’ championship one-handed through Max Verstappen’s exceptional consistency.
Since the 2024 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on May 19, the Mexican racer has only managed to collect eight points to contribute to Red Bull’s tally compared to his teammate’s haul of 69 in the same period.
Fortunately for Christian Horner’s men, the world champion’s form has prevented their lead from being wiped out with the gap to McLaren now sitting at 78 points and Piastri knows Red Bull are vulnerable due to their absentee driver.
“We’ve scored the most points of any team in the last six races,” Oscar Piastri told media, including Total-Motorsport.com at the 2024 Hungarian GP at the Hungaroring. “And we’re making up ground on everyone around us.
“Obviously, the gap to Ferrari in the constructors’ championship is very small and we’re reducing it to Red Bull. At the moment, it’s really only Max [Verstappen] scoring most of the points there.
“So, I think we can’t take for granted that it’s always going to be like that, and we still need to be maximising what we can do to get the most points for both cars. I think we’re confident in our whole team. Drivers, car, everyone around us. I think we’ve got a lot of confidence.
More from the Singapore GP
Catch up with Total Motorsport's latest Singapore GP coverage, including Max Verstappen's victory at Marina Bay, Ferrari's costly strategy gamble, the full race classification, and the updated 2026 Formula 1 Drivers' and Constructors' Championship standings.
“But I think we’re definitely confident that we’re in the fight. I think it would be incredibly pessimistic to not be optimistic of our chances later in the year, so we know it’s not going to be an easy task and things can turn around very quickly but we’re making the right moves at the moment and we’re making good progress. We’re definitely in the fight.”
Will Sergio Perez lose his F1 seat?
The comments about the 34-year-old come at a bad time with his seat under significant pressure from other drivers such as Daniel Ricciardo, Yuki Tsunoda and Carlos Sainz, as well as from Red Bull executives such as Horner and Helmut Marko, who have called on him to up his game.
Perez‘s run of form mirrors the same pattern from round six of the 2023 F1 season when he went on to finish 16th, fourth, sixth, third and sixth with repeat premature qualifying exits in a run when Verstappen won five straight races.
Red Bull have already admitted that part of why they offered the Guadalajara man, who’s last win was the 2023 Azerbaijan GP, a two-year contract on June 9 to run until the end of 2026 although there are reportedly termination clauses if he falls below standards.
Which, at the moment, is undeniable with Perez opening the door for McLaren to get into the F1 title fight along with Mercedes and Ferrari as his last podium coming at the 2024 Chinese GP in April.
Autosport claims that if Perez heads into the F1 summer break more than 100 points behind Verstappen then they can fire him. He is currently 137 points behind with two races to close the gap prior to the break.
