It’s been a rough ride for Sergio Perez in 2023 as despite being second in the standings his future at F1’s top team has come under question.

Perez has had a tumultuous season at Red Bull as despite his team-mate dominating the field and securing the world championship the Mexican’s performances in the same car have been lacklustre to say the least.

For all of five races, we believed Perez could be a real championship contender as he took two (rather impressive) race wins in Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan and a podium finish in Bahrain.

However, although Perez took pole position in Miami he ultimately finished five seconds behind Max in a rather humbling second place and his season only got worse from there.

In Monaco, Perez finished two laps behind his team-mate after a crash in qualifying left him languishing at the back of the grid despite being touted as a street race master.

Since that pole in Miami, Perez has had been knocked out before Q3 on seven occasions (in 13 races) and has only had one qualifying result in the top four while his team-mate has had eight pole positions in that time.

Perez’ performance in the races hasn’t been much better since Miami as he’s only had 4 podiums while his Dutch team-mate has only been off the podium once.

Of course, Max Verstappen is in another league this season and Perez should not be expected to be on his level but in the most dominant car in F1 history he is being a bit of a letdown.

The icing on the cake of Perez’ annus horribilis was his antics at his home Mexico City Grand Prix last weekend. Not only was he outqualified by Daniel Ricciardo in an AlphaTauri but his race lasted all of a corner when he went for a ‘hero’ move on Leclerc which ended with him mid-air and out the race.

This string of poor performances has raised questions as to whether Perez should retain his seat at Red Bull.

Although he has had some strong races, his consistency could become an issue if Red Bull were in a battle for the constructors championship.

Currently Max could’ve won it single-handedly but if Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari were challenging for race wins having a competitive Checo would give Red Bull an edge.

This then leads us to ask who would replace him. Many have touted Lando Norris as a potential replacement however he is still under contract at McLaren and as the Woking outfit are looking fast it might not be the best move.

Therefore, we should consider drivers within the Red Bull stable. The obvious pick is former Red Bull race winner Daniel Riccardo, his performance last weekend was impressive and he has form as a great driver for Red Bull. Whether he wants to play second fiddle to Max is a different question though.

A more left field choice is Liam Lawson, he showed great pace and adaptability during his stint at AlphaTauri replacing Ricciardo which could make him an outside choice for Red Bull. Personally, this is the one I’d like to see, he can’t be much worse than Perez has been.

Does he deserve to keep his seat? Who do you think could replace Perez?

Do comment your thoughts below.