Sergio Perez ‘slack off’ prediction fears resurface in Helmut Marko joke

Initially keen to hold off on re-signing Sergio Perez for fear he’d “slack off”, Helmut Marko has joked the Mexican driver didn’t have to prove him right.

Earlier this year there were a lot of questions about Red Bull’s 2025 driver line-up and whether or not they’d continue with Sergio Perez, put Daniel Ricciardo or Yuki Tsunoda in the car, or even Carlos Sainz.

Helmut Marko: He really didn’t have to stick to it!

Marko, speaking after Perez’s third runner-up result of the season in Japan, insisted he was in no hurry to sign the 34-year-old to a new deal.

Simply put: “If he has a secure contract for two years, there is a risk that he will slack off.”

But, as Red Bull had done two years prior, in the wake of the Monaco Grand Prix the team announced that Perez had put pen to paper on a new deal.

And then he crashed.

Out of Q1 in back-to-back qualifying sessions, the driver also made it two crashes in two races as he followed with a Monaco DNF via a lap 53 spin in Canada.

Marko was reminded of his prediction that Perez could slack off if given an early contract.

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“He really didn’t have to stick to it!” the Red Bull motorsport advisor told OE24. “We extended his contract because we wanted to bring calm to our team, which unfortunately didn’t quite work out.

“But now Checo has three races ahead of him on three real race tracks so he can prove himself.”

And potentially even prove Marko wrong as, speaking after Canada, he told the world that Red Bull did not have the best line-up on the grid.

Given that their one driver is triple World Champion Max Verstappen, the assumption – although not said in words – is that Perez is the weak link”.

Instead, Marko reckons the best line-up belongs to McLaren who have Lando Norris and Oscar Pastir.

He doubled down on that, saying: “That’s the way it is. They are young and are always very close together, especially in qualifying. And both will improve, especially Piastri.”

Although Red Bull signed Perez to a two-year deal it is being widely reported that it’s a one-plus-one with 2026 not guaranteed, Red Bull have an option on him.

Team boss Christian Horner has warned the driver he needs to start scoring big points again.

“Checo just needs to forget Canada 2024 and turn up in Barcelona and bounce back,” said Horner. “We know that he’s very capable of doing that and I’m sure he’ll come back fighting hard in Barcelona.

“We need him up there scoring as he was in the first four races.”

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