2009 Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button reckons that Red Bull will have no choice but to drop Sergio Perez should he fail to score in the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Perez looked to have overcome the mid-season slump that characterised his past term as he began the current campaign with five podiums in the opening five races.
However, Perez hasn’t appeared on the rostrum in the seven races since amid another sharp decline in results as the grid has converged on Red Bull at the sharp end.
The Mexican has contributed a meagre 15 points across the past six rounds to slip 137 points behind team-mate Max Verstappen, creating doubt over his prospects.
Despite penning a multi-term contract extension, rumours have stated that Perez’s deal contains a clause that could see him axed should he be over 100 points back.
Regardless, Button has admitted Perez’s plight as an alarming situation and is convinced that Red Bull should consider a change should he underdeliver this weekend.
“It’s a massive, massive issue,” Button, who was team-mates with Perez at McLaren in 2013, told Sky Sports F1. “This [Silverstone] was a terrible weekend.
“It was unlucky in some ways as well. This isn’t going to happen every race weekend, but for McLaren to be taking this many points out of them, it’s big.
“He needs to be scoring some points at least. Even if he’s not directly behind Max. They can’t let it go on forever.
“I think in the next race, if he’s not scoring points again – soon enough they’ve got to get him out of the car and put someone else in.
“It’s tough, I know it’s not a nice feeling for a driver, it’s horrible, but for them the championship is important.”
Perez endured a disastrous outing at Silverstone as a spin into the gravel in Q1 at Copse prompted a premature gamble to Intermediates in the race which backfired.
However, the six-time F1 race winner has remained adamant that he will not allow reports over his future to undermine his endeavour to get his season back on track.
“I know where I am in terms of contract and that sort of thing,” Perez addressed. “I cannot let it be a distraction.
“I need to focus on the next two weekends, which are the priority, and together as a team, to get out of this difficult period.”
But Red Bull boss Christian Horner, who was supportive towards his driver during his dip last season, has admitted that Perez’s low-scoring streak is “unsustainable”.
Although McLaren squandered another chance to win a race last weekend, Perez’s ongoing absence at the front still saw the Woking-based squad outscore Red Bull.
“We have to be scoring points in that car and he knows that,” Horner added.
“He knows his role and his target and so nobody is more eager than Checo to get back and find his form again.”
Be a hundred points behind Max? Easiest thing in the world!! Just win the next two races, score fastest lap in both, and somehow impede MV from scoring more than 15 points…. !