Sergio Perez put his quest to rescue his endangered race seat at Red Bull back on track with a solid qualifying effort at Spa-Francorchamps.
"What was really nice is that Checo really improved himself," said team consultant Dr Helmut Marko on Saturday, as critical meetings about potential driver shuffles at Red Bull’s two Formula 1 teams loom for the summer break.
"Because of the grid penalty (for Max Verstappen), he starts from the front row, and then suddenly everything looks a lot better," the 81-year-old told Servus TV.
However, the risk that Red Bull will oust Perez in the interest of the constructors’ championship remains - ahead of a critical head-to-head test next week.
The test will take place on Wednesday at Imola, where a ’filming day’ for the junior team RB will see Liam Lawson and Daniel Ricciardo take turns in the 2024 car.
Yuki Tsunoda will also be there, but the Japanese is understood to not be under consideration to replace Perez. "I guess it seems like there are other factors," said Tsunoda in Belgium, "because they are considering other drivers as well."
Marko admits that a decent qualifying for Perez, 34, at Spa is not enough to guarantee his future. "It’s hard to live with the points he has scored," the Austrian declared.
"But he was there in all of the sessions, so that was also great. I hope that will continue to be the case," Marko said. "He is ahead of both McLarens, so if he can finish ahead of them, that would be very, very good."
However, Dutch racing personality Tom Coronel is not convinced. "The difference is still six tenths," he told Viaplay. "I still want to point out that these are not gaps you want to see between two teammates."
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said of Perez: "He knows he needs a good result on Sunday."