Red Bull driver Sergio Perez is facing a reduction in his salary, due to his relative underperformance compared to his teammate Max Verstappen.
Dutch source, De Telegraaf, reported that Verstappen’s win at the Belgian Grand Prix triggered a points difference clause in Perez’s contract.
The Mexican racer is now 125 points behind his Red Bull teammate.
This is the exact amount of points at which Red Bull reserves the contractual right to reduce his wages, by the time the summer break arrives.
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Perez finds himself in this unfortunate position despite sitting in second place in the Driver’s Standings with 189 points, and having seen a recent uptick in form.
The Mexican driver secured second position at the Belgian GP last weekend, and claimed podium finishes at the Hungarian and Austrian GPs last month.
However, the utter dominance of Verstappen – who has amassed a whopping 314 points means that Red Bull can penalise Perez monetarily.
This form of punishment would only be a financial one and not affect the contract Perez has with Red Bull, which runs until the end of 2024.
It is unclear exactly how much Red Bull could reduce Perez’s wages by – and if they will.
The Mexican is understood to earn a base salary of $10m with the Austrian sports drink company.
Red Bull’s RB19 has blown the competition out of the water this season, with Verstappen and Perez winning all 12 of the races this season between the two of them.
The Dutchman has additionally won three out of a possible three Sprint races.
While Verstappen has now won 10 Grand Prixs’, Perez has claimed only two of Red Bull’s GP victories – early on in the season, before a severe slump in form.
The Mexican recently spoke out on his deterioration in form after a crash during qualifying at the Monaco Grand Prix in May.
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The crash during Q1 at the Circuit de Monaco led to his first pointless result of the season, and things went downhill for the Red Bull driver from there.
It marked the first of five consecutive weekends that he failed to qualify in the top ten.
Speaking ahead of the Belgian GP, Perez remarked: “Certainly after Monaco, I lost some confidence because of the way the crash happened.”