Helmut Marko throws Sergio Pérez on the hot seat at Red Bull

One certainly hopes that Sergio Pérez enjoyed his summer shutdown away from the rigors of Formula 1.

Because his return to the grid has been rather rocky, thanks to Red Bull Senior Advisor Dr. Helmut Marko.

First came reports from Austrian outlet Kleine Zeitung that quoted Marko as saying that nothing in F1 is guaranteed, including Pérez’s seat with Red Bull for the 2024 campaign. “Nothing is 100 percent certain in Formula 1, it just doesn’t exist,” said the Red Bull advisor. “There are always performance-related situations somewhere that need to be discussed. We’ll take a look and discuss how to proceed in Zandvoort, then we’ll know more.”

Then, speaking with Sky Sports Germany on Friday ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix, Marko went even further. “Perez has to perform. He has to improve his qualifying, but everything is clear for the current year. We’ll see what happens next year.”

These comments are a wild departure from Marko’s thoughts on Pérez just a few short weeks ago. When the Red Bull driver was in the middle of a qualifying slump — he failed to advance to Q3 in three-straight races earlier this season — both Marko and Team Principal Christian Horner gave the driver a clear vote of confidence.

”It’s all nonsense. Sergio’s place has never been in jeopardy and will never be in jeopardy,” declared Marko back in June.

It certainly seems as if things have changed.

Frankly, this feels a lot like the situation earlier this season with Nyck de Vries. The rookie driver for AlphaTauri was given a clear warning from Marko that he needed to improve his form, with the Red Bull advisor indicating that he gave De Vries the “yellow card.” That seemed to work, for a while, but then De Vries’ struggles returned, and he was shown the door.

Could the same thing be happening to Pérez?

Compounding the situation is something that Horner said in the midst of Pérez’s qualifying struggles earlier this season. They began at the Monaco Grand Prix, where entering that race it seemed that a small window had opened for Pérez to turn the 2023 season into a legitimate title fight between himself and teammate Max Verstappen. Then an error in Q1 ruined his weekend, and the slide began.

With that slide allowing Verstappen to pull away in the Drivers’ Championship, Horner identified a silver lining for Pérez.

“So he [Pérez] is up against a driver that is at the top of his form. And that’s very tough. Mentally it’s a really tough thing to deal with but I think now there is that separation in the points, that may actually take the pressure off him a little and the expectation he’s putting on himself,” said Horner following the Spanish Grand Prix. “He needs to let go of that now and just be free to drive.”

But with Marko now putting the pressure back on, will that enable Pérez to “let go” and “just be free to drive?”

Time will tell.