Formula One: Perez running out of options for 2021

Sergio Perez is still without a drive for 2021. Photo / Don Kennedy

Although there are still four races left in a championship season constrained and changed by the Covid-19 pandemic, for all intents and purposes the title battle is won.

Lewis Hamilton has a lead of 85 points over his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas, which means the latter would have to win all four remaining races and hope Hamilton scores no more than 15 points in those races.

Based on what has happened to date, with Hamilton winning nine races to just two for Bottas, there is not going to be any miraculous outcome for the Finn, and Hamilton is likely to be crowned champion for a record-equalling seventh time in this weekend's Turkish GP.

With Mercedes having sewn up a seventh consecutive constructors' title two weeks ago at Imola, the only real interest among the teams is which one will finish third in the championship. Red Bull in second place realistically can't be caught, but Renault in third place are just one point ahead of McLaren and Racing Point.

For the drivers, there is a battle for fourth place between Daniel Ricciardo, Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez, who are separated by 13 points.

Perez would love to finish fourth behind Hamilton, Bottas and Max Verstappen, simply to prove he still belongs in F1. The affable 30-year old Mexican driver has been in F1 since making his debut in 2011 with the Sauber F1 team.

The following year he achieved second place in the Malaysian GP, which remains his best result in his 10 seasons in F1. Nicknamed "Checo", Perez has had 187 starts and been on the podium eight times. He joined Force India in 2015 and when that team went into administration in the latter half of 2018, Perez used his own money to keep the team afloat.

Renamed Racing Point after Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll acquired a majority shareholding in it, Perez was re-signed for three years through to the end of 2022.

But in a nasty twist of fate, Stroll decided to sign up Sebastian Vettel for 2021, when the Ferrari driver was sacked earlier this year and became available.

The team has retained Lance Stroll, Lawrence's son, even though Perez has outdriven him for most of the year. Perez was bought out of the contract that had two years to run, for an undisclosed sum.

Ironically, this season is turning out to be his best, despite missing two grand prix in July when he returned to Mexico City to see his mother, and contracted coronavirus.

Perez is currently sixth in the drivers' standings, but only 13 points behind fourth-placed Ricciardo. Vettel is currently 14th and 64 points behind Perez, yet he will be on the grid next year and Perez may not.

His only option is replacing Alex Albon at Red Bull, which is doubtful, given team adviser Helmut Marko and team boss, Christian Horner, insist that Albon is doing okay and refuse to say he will be replaced.

When Pierre Gasly won the Italian GP earlier in the year driving for Alpha Tauri, the team he was demoted to from sister team Red Bull, it seemed likely he might swap places again with Albon, the driver who replaced him at Red Bull, but last week it was confirmed Gasly will return with Alpha Tauri next year.

To get the Red Bull drive if it is available, Perez may have to see off "super-sub" Nico Hulkenberg, who replaced Perez at Racing Point when Perez had coronavirus, and later replaced Stroll when he suffered a similar fate.

Hulkenberg impressed the team and just about every other team on the grid, scoring 10 points. But that elusive spot on the podium continues to elude Hulkenberg, who now has 179 F1 starts, and like Perez may have run out of options to return to F1 in a full-time drive.

The only other option for Perez, or Hulkenberg, if the Red Bull is not vacant, is at Haas Racing, where two seats are available as that team has confirmed their current drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen will not be driving for them next year.

But it is widely reported in the media that current F2 championship leader Mick Schumacher, the son of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, will drive for the team alongside fellow F2 driver Nikita Mazepin.

Grosjean admits he has in effect been "blocking" rookies finding a path into F1 but accepts it is likely team principal Guenther Steiner will sign up two rookies, Schumacher and Mazepin, after being told he had lost the Haas drive for "financial reasons".

Mazepin's father is a Russian billionaire and Michael Schumacher was close to becoming F1's first billionaire driver when he retired for a second time in 2013, although his family has spent undisclosed millions providing him with round-the clock medical care since his life-threatening brain injury suffered when skiing in 2014.

"Rookies need to have their chance in Formula 1," Grojean told RaceFans.

"I've been here for 10 years, blocking kind of a seat for 10 years, and if the team goes for two rookies, well, good for them, and I wish them the best."

Steiner acknowledges it was the technical feedback the team got from Grosjean that kept him in the seat, so hiring rookies could be a risk.

"We haven't decided to take two rookies, but I can easily talk you through my thoughts about two rookies," Steiner told Motorsport.com.

"We discussed this, the risks, the opportunities with them. There is obviously a risk that two rookies, that have nobody experienced to look at the data and stuff like this. They need to find out between them what is going on, and there is a risk that it goes wrong.

"We know the pros and cons and, we will deal with that if we go that way."

Mick Schumacher believes he is ready for F1. He was supposed to have driven an Alfa Romeo in the first practice session at the Eifel GP at the Nurburgring, but the session was cancelled due to fog.

Schumacher is concentrating on his fitness as he is aware that there is no power steering in F2 cars and he needs to train his arm muscles, and also cope with increased G forces.

"In recent years I have always pursued the goal of developing myself as a driver and I am very satisfied with my development," he says."That's why I definitely feel ready for Formula 1."

Going back to Perez, there is a good chance he could finish in the top five drivers in the championship despite missing two grand prix. When you look at what Vettel is achieving compared to Charles Leclerc at Ferrari, you have to wonder what Racing Point, who will race as Aston Martin next year, see in Vettel other than his four world titles and his 14 years of experience in F1.

Former driver and now F1 TV commentator, David Coulthard, is not convinced that Vettel, who joined the Red Bull team in 2009, the year after Coulthard left that team, will regain his mojo with Aston Martin.

Coulthard says Ferrari have invested in Leclerc, who has two podiums and is fifth in the championship, so it is not surprising they have signed Carlos Sainz to replace Vettel and join Leclerc. The latter is on a multi-year contract with Ferrari and is seen as the future.

"They've seen he is not only fast but he has the leadership skills to build that team going forward," Coulthard says.

"Seb is a spent force. He was a four-time world champion but that's in the past and this is very much about the now and the future. There is nothing Vettel can do to influence the overall design of the car, he's not a designer, but the driver is still the voice of the car.

"You want the fastest voice talking about the car though, not the slowest. Seb has been outside the top 10 now for several races and yeah … it's over. You hope he finds his form at Racing Point but I doubt it."

Form is something Lewis Hamilton rarely has to worry about, such is the performance and reliability of his Mercedes car. He will soon be crowned a seven-time champion.

Much is being written about the fact he still hasn't penned a new deal with Mercedes and may be contemplating retirement. It is more likely he wants a pay rise, but Mercedes may be feeling the pinch financially. A driver salary cap will be introduced in 2022 when teams will also have a budget cap of $135 million. Hamilton has been vocal in his opposition to a driver salary cut.

Max Verstappen says he respects what Hamilton has achieved and is not frustrated about Hamilton being in the Mercedes.

"To be honest, 90 per cent of the field could win in that car," Verstappen says.

"Nothing against Lewis, he's a great driver, but the car is so dominant."

So, perhaps Mercedes should take a leaf out of Verstappen's book and rather than pay Hamilton $40m a year, get Perez for a third of that, and still win? But the reality is, Hamilton will win a seventh title and Mercedes will pay him more to keep him.