Sergio Perez and Red Bull had a weekend to forget in Monaco. The 34-year-old was eliminated in Q1 before contact with Kevin Magnussen ruined his race, wrecking his RB20 in the process. The Mexican is one of the many F1 drivers who is trying to get a contract extension. According to Christian Horner, a bad race like this one won’t impact contract negotiations.
The reality is that the English Team Principal has already made the decision to renew Perez for another year. Concrete discussions have already started, and an agreement should be reached relatively shortly. Unless Perez is adamant that a two-year deal is essential, everything should be in place.
ECONOMIC DAMAGE FROM ACCIDENTS: RED BULL CLOSE TO 3 MILLION, FERRARI AND MCLAREN PRACTICALLY PERFECT
Regardless of his contractual situation, Perez’s performances are still relevant for Red Bull, especially in terms of the Constructors’ standings. With Charles Leclerc’s victory and Carlos Sainz’s third place, Ferrari is now just 32 points behind Red Bull.
Therefore, the economic damage caused by Perez’s crash in Monaco is heavy. Helmut Marko immediately indicated it as an accident that could be worth “2-3 million dollars”. This figure is consistent with most estimates, which puts the total cost at around 2 million dollars.
Considering the damage to the Perez and Verstappen’s RB20s in the other seven rounds, it is reasonable to estimate they have lost 3 million dollars from crashes in 2024.
This sum is similar to the costs suffered by Williams after their costly start to the year. It is also significantly higher than Red Bull’s immediate rivals – Ferrari and McLaren. The drivers at Maranello and Woking have avoided any costly incidents in this year’s campaign.
ECONOMIC DAMAGE ACCIDENTS: A PACKAGE OF UPDATES ON THE RB20 AT RISK?
The maximum (basic) spending limit for the 2024 Formula 1 season is $135 million. However, considering the Championship consists of far more than 21 races, the figure for 2024 is approximately $142.2 million.
From this, teams allocate an average figure of $12 million for in-season developments. Therefore, for both Red Bull and Williams, their current damages ($3 million) account for a quarter of their annual development budget.
As such, Helmut Marko’s recent comments are not an exaggeration:
“Perez’s accident is a big handicap for us due to the budget cap.” A qualified and concerned Red Bull source stated that she was very worried because “if we have further damage, we could even abandon an update in the final part of the season.”
We have already written about Red Bull’s approach in 2024, which has been to introduce gradual upgrades. This is why RB20’s first major package arrived in two steps – one in Japan and the other in Imola. Other upgrades will arrive before Silverstone, unlike Ferrari, which will optimise its current package before its next big changes for the British GP.
Every team is obviously prepared for some level of damage during a season. However, the situation at Red Bull is far from rosy.
There are those who believe some of Red Bull’s smaller updates will no longer be able to arrive.
This is bad news, adding to Red Bull’s rather disappointing results in the last three rounds and the recoveries of Ferrari and McLaren. The ascendance of these two giants of F1 will likely be confirmed in the coming rounds.
In addition, in the second half of the season, barring big surprises in the next three events, the Milton Keynes team will have relatively limited wind tunnel time. This will be a strong aerodynamic handicap for the RB20, only worsened by Red Bull’s economic issues.
