Red Bull make decision on Perez's future and RB driver line-up

Red Bull are sticking with Sergio Perez and will field unchanged line-ups in their works team and sister squad RB when the Formula 1 season resumes at Zandvoort after the summer break.

Perez has been on a difficult run of form that has seen him fall 146 points behind team mate and championship leader Max Verstappen.

READ MORE: Perez says he's 'had enough of the speculation’ on Red Bull future as he looks back on ‘really bad race’ in Belgium

His last podium came back at race five in China and, since then, his average result in races he’s seen the chequered flag is eighth.

That form has allowed McLaren to close to within 42 points of Red Bull in the constructors’ championship with Ferrari just 21 further back.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner – who has previously described Perez’s form as “unsustainable” and Red Bull Motorsport Adviser Helmut Marko this week discussed their drivers and decided to stick.

A Red Bull spokesperson confirmed the line-ups at Red Bull and sister team RB would remain unchanged after the summer break.

READ MORE: Red Bull technical chief Wache explains ongoing push to help Perez and insists the team still have faith in him

Why stick with Perez? Well sources say the team feel there are a few more things they can do to try and help Perez get more comfortable in the car to allow him to extract its potential.

They know what he’s capable of, given he finished a career-best second in the drivers’ standings last season – but they need that form consistently now.

They will be working on a strategy over the coming weeks and months to ensure they do everything they can to get the best out of Perez. Red Bull also feel like the tracks after the summer break should play to his strengths. Last season he was fourth in the Netherlands, second in Italy and won in Baku.

This scenario also gives the likes of Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda more time to prove they deserve to be promoted to the works team in the future.

Ricciardo has started to show glimpses of his old form but is lacking the consistency while Tsunoda is enjoying his strongest season yet but hasn’t yet proved to Red Bull he can step up.

It’s frustrating for reserve driver Liam Lawson, however Red Bull continue to rate him highly and have been impressed by his efforts both behind the wheel and off-track. They consider him part of their future.

READ MORE: ‘We have work to do’ – Verstappen acknowledges dominant days are 'behind' Red Bull despite 'positive' Belgian GP

He’ll get another opportunity to show his talent on Wednesday when he runs a 2022-spec AlphaTauri at Imola as part of a filming day. That run isn’t a shoot-out or test of his speed but rather part of his duties as reserve driver for both Red Bull and RB – however, every positive run in a car can aid your argument.

So, for now, it’s as you were. If Perez finds his form, talk about his future will ebb away. But continue to struggle and it’s the nature of Formula 1 that the pressure will remain.