Sergio Perez’s recent form has become one of the main storylines in F1, scoring just 11 points in the last five rounds. Despite recently signing a contract extension, Perez is at risk of losing his seat. Whilst Red Bull deliberate on a decision, McLaren CEO Zak Brown believes there is an opportunity in the Constructors Championship.
McLaren work to catch Red Bull
Since McLaren’s Miami GP upgrades, they have quite uncontroversially been the fastest team. The MCL38 is exceptional in high, medium and low-speed corners.
It doesn’t lose competitiveness from qualifying to race day either, consistently taking good care of its tyres.
To a large extent, only McLaren’s limitations have prevented them from taking the lead in the Championship.
A combination of driver errors, poor strategy and general operational incompetence have been costly for the Woking-based outfit.
Even with Perez barely scoring any points, Verstappen has managed to limit the damage – taking seven victories in 2024 so far.
Brown: McLaren aware of this year’s opportunity
Despite this, Zak Brown believes the Mexican driver’s poor results provide a window of opportunity:
“I think it’s going to be dependent on Perez, at the end of the day.
“You’ve got to assume that Max is going to be first, second or third at every race…
“Sergio Perez underperforming is what’s opening the window for us. I think if we have the same points gain we’ve had the last six races, the balance of the year, we’d get the job done.
“So we’re fully aware of it.”
Still room to improve
Of course, it would be objectively incorrect to ignore the deficit in performance within the Red Bull garage.
For most of the season – and frankly, for the last few years – Verstappen has done the heavy lifting at Milton Keynes.
It seems fair to assume that, should this continue for the next twelve rounds, McLaren have plenty of time to cut down the gap.
However, the British outfit have barely made a dent in Red Bull’s advantage in the standings since Miami. They are also yet to overtake Ferrari, whose struggles in the last four rounds have been significant.
Should Perez start to perform, or if Red Bull replace him with someone who can, it seems fair to assume the reigning Champions will extend their lead in the standings.
McLaren might have a race-winning car, but they have often failed to capitalise on this.
The fact Mercedes have taken consecutive wins before McLaren in 2024 is evidence of the operational deficit that team Papaya must bridge.
With the second half of the year still to play for, there are plenty of questions next to be answered.
