SUMMARY
- Ford has witnessed significant downfall in sales over the years.
- Ford's CEO believes that Sergio Perez and Red Bull could be a key factor in reviving Ford's business.
The Formula 1 2023 season left Sergio Perez struggling with the RB19 and his plans of finally becoming a World Champion were put on hold as the Mexican dealt with the consequences of being a teammate to the three-time champion, Max Verstappen. However, as they come closer to the 2026 season and their partnership with Ford, Checo, and Co. have more pressure than ever.
Until now, Perez has watched his teammate win almost every single race this season and take the Championship victory while he struggled with technical issues. Unfortunately, the pressure on him is only increasing as Red Bull starts the works on their powertrains alongside Ford to have a 50% electrical engine.
While Red Bull has poured pressure on the Mexican throughout the season just to see a better performance, Ford has now come in with even more at stake and all eyes are on the Milton Keynes-based team to help them bring their company to No. 1 again.
Sergio Perez gets sandwiched by Ford and Red Bull partnership
Sergio Perez saw the worst of his career last season having retired twice in a single race and his crash during the qualifications in Monaco. However, their partnership with Ford has only brought out the best opportunities for Checo and has seen the car company favor him and his marketing to bring Ford back to the front.
But with him becoming a priority for the company and wanting to see him alongside Red Bull in 2026, they have also built the pressure of wanting to see great results with the team. When teaming up with a three-consecutive championship-winning team, any company would only expect the best results having watched the Austrian team clinch the most successful season in F1 history.
However, as Jim Farley talks about the plans he has for Ford and Red Bull, it seems the Austrian team may be biting more than they can chew. He said,
🗣️ | 🇺🇸 Jim Farley believes Formula 1 will bring more business to Ford
“Yeah, looks what’s happening with Formula 1 in the US, it’s blown up!”
“We think there’re a lot of young, diverse people who would love our products that are not familiar with Ford.”
“Look at Checo[‘s… pic.twitter.com/DC4k24X3Db
— RBR News 🇳🇱🇲🇽 (@redbulletin) January 19, 2024
“Yeah, looks what’s happening with Formula 1 in the US, it’s blown up! We think there are a lot of young, diverse people who would love our products but are not familiar with Ford. Look at Checo[‘s diverse popularity in the US]— I mean, who doesn’t want to be associated with Checo?”
Checo’s marketing has helped Red Bull sell out the most merch and cans so far and has been proven to be good for their marketing, so having Ford with them, the company expects the same results for them. However, Perez will be done with his contract by the end of this year… right? Or is this another Red Bull tactic to confirm his contract extension?
Sergio Perez accepts defeat before the 2024 season
The Mexican has hoped from time and time again to achieve at least one championship victory with the Red Bull. However, those dreams have never come true for the second driver although he started off his 2023 season with a great start and soon went downhill.
Unfortunately, his 2023 season has given him an insight into what his 2024 season could look like and it does not end with him having a championship title. Before the season even starts, he accepts his defeat by saying,
The 2024 F1 season hasn’t even got underway yet and Sergio Perez has already made his first mistake.
I’d be happy to be proved wrong but he’ll never challenge Max Verstappen for the world title while driving the same car, it’ll just never happen.#F1
— Ashley Woodhouse (@AshWoody90) January 17, 2024
“My main interest is to do one better. I’m aware of the challenge that it is, we’ve got to take this winter time to try to start the season on a high and be able to maintain that level of consistency throughout the season.”
While he is aware of the “challenge” that Max Verstappen brings in, Perez has hopes of getting better results this season even if he doesn’t win the championship.