Perez is a chasmic 242 points adrift of the Dutchman heading to Sin City. He could yet rival last season’s historic deficit of 290 – but that’s not the most embarrassing record on the line.
Verstappen leads Lando Norris by 62 points with only 86 more up for grabs. There will be just 60 on the table in the final two race weekends (Qatar and Abu Dhabi).
That means that Norris must outscore Verstappen by three points in Vegas to prolong the title race. But in reality, it’s just a question of when at this stage.
Only Michael Schumacher has strung together a longer run of championships (five between 2000 and 2004). Verstappen’s feat this year looks all the more impressive with his teammate down in eighth place.
For the second time in the past four seasons (after 2021), Red Bull will almost certainly win the drivers’ title but not the constructors’. This is a rather shameful reflection on Perez.
As shown in the table below, there have been 11 occasions on which the constructors’ champions haven’t fielded the title-winning driver. But Perez could become the first to ever feature in the dreaded fourth column twice.
| YEAR | DRIVERS’ TITLE | TEAM | TEAMMATE(S) | CONSTRUCTORS’ TITLE |
| 1958 | Mike Hawthorn | Ferrari | Tony Brooks | Vanwall |
| 1973 | Jackie Stewart | Tyrrell | Francois Cevert, Chris Amon | Lotus |
| 1976 | James Hunt | McLaren | Jochen Maas | Ferrari |
| 1981 | Nelson Piquet | Brabham | Hector Rebaque | Williams |
| 1982 | Keke Rosberg | Williams | Derek Daly, Carlos Reutemann | Ferrari |
| 1983 | Nelson Piquet | Brabham | Riccardo Patrese | Ferrari |
| 1986 | Alain Prost | McLaren | Keke Rosberg | Williams |
| 1994 | Michael Schumacher | Bennetton | Jos Verstappen | Williams |
| 1999 | Mika Hakkinen | McLaren | David Coulthard | Ferrari |
| 2008 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren | Heikki Kovalainen | Ferrari |
| 2021 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | Sergio Perez | Mercedes |
Officially, one could argue his inability to match his teammate has now cost Red Bull two titles. Christian Horner’s team will remain on six overall barring a dramatic turnaround – they’re 49 points off McLaren with three rounds left.
Lando Norris has scored roughly 55% of McLaren’s points, almost identical to Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari contribution. At Red Bull, Verstappen is sitting on around 72%.
Some would argue that this record is more a positive reflection on Verstappen than a negative one on Perez. All-time greats like Lewis Hamilton, Schumacher, Alain Prost and Nelson Piquet also defied the limitations of their cars based on the table above.
But Red Bull wouldn’t be considering a change to their driver line-up if they felt Perez’s performances were acceptable. Team principal Horner is ready to promote Liam Lawson over Franco Colapinto.
| Position | Constructors' Standings | PointsPts |
| 1 | 593 | |
| 2 | 557 | |
| 3 | 544 | |
| 4 | 382 | |
| 5 | 86 | |
| 6 | 49 | |
| 7 | 46 | |
| 8 | 44 | |
| 9 | 17 | |
| 10 | 0 |
It remains to be seen how easily Red Bull can escape Perez’s contract if necessary. He may already be in breach of his deal after falling too far behind Verstappen before the summer break.
He’s already suffered the consequences of his underperformance. One insider claims Perez had to take a pay cut when the gap to his teammate exceeded 150 points.
