BUDAPEST, Hungary -- Sergio Perez has denied the mounting speculation he is facing the axe from Red Bull over the August break if he does not deliver a turnaround in the next two F1 races.
Perez has not been on the podium in eight races in a car teammate Max Verstappen has guided to seven wins. The Mexican is sixth in the drivers' championship, 137 points from his teammate who leads.
Sources with knowledge of the situation have told ESPN a summer driver switch is considered a last resort, but it is being considered given how poor Perez's form is.
F1 has back-to-back races in Hungary and Belgium before the traditional August break.
When asked about comments he made after the British Grand Prix about the next two races being key, Perez downplayed the suggestion it meant he was facing a make-or-break double header.
"There's nothing related to that. Obviously I cannot talk about my contract," Perez said, referring to the 2025 extension the team confirmed in early June.
"What I said was the next two races are important for me, I want to go on holiday with a good spirit and I think it's good for my side of the garage to go with a good spirit. I wasn't talking about anything else. I'm fully focused to fully deliver. I will be here and here again next year and that's nothing different. I'm just fully committed to myself."
Last week Red Bull reserve driver Liam Lawson tested in a 200km filming day, which sources have said the team used to evaluate his pace.
Lawson is a candidate to replace either Perez at Red Bull or Daniel Ricciardo at junior team RB, depending on which is considered to be the most pressing situation come August.
One source with knowledge of the situation said as it stands the belief internally is Lawson will be lining up on the grid in some capacity come the Dutch Grand Prix after the summer break.
RB driver Yuki Tsunoda also spoke on Thursday about Perez's seat and how he feels he's earned an opportunity to step up.
"I think a lot of drivers out there would love to have my seat," Perez said in reply. "It's obvious, no? It's one of the top seats. It's normal for Yuki to want to move up. It's just normal when you are in a lower seat, you want to move up. That's part of the nature of the sport. I've got nothing against it. It's good to have higher ambitions in the sport.
Pressed on whether he had received assurances from Christian Horner about staying beyond the break, he said: "I just renewed my contact not long ago. I don't think that's relevant, for us, for the team. What's relevant is we focus on track, we focus back in the factory, we focus on the things we can control. The rest is just external noise, that's how it works."
In his answers to reporters, Perez referenced racing for Red Bull at the Abu Dhabi finale on three occasions, suggesting he is confident he will still be in place then.
The Perez situation has been alarming for Red Bull given the tighter spot it has found itself in championship-wise compared to last year's record-shattering season.
Ahead of last year's Hungarian Grand Prix at the same point in the year Red Bull's constructors' championship lead was 208 points over Mercedes.
This year the team leads Ferrari by 71 and McLaren by 78.
While admitting he's been lacking in certain areas, Perez suggested the team's execution of his races has been far from perfect lately too.
"I haven't been performing, first of all, at my 100% in the circumstances when you put yourself in difficult positions. I take a lot of responsibility for that. Obviously there's been a lot of circumstances as well with different sort of races, so I think it's a little bit of everything when you are in this vicious circle.
"We had a really strong Friday but then I messed up in Silverstone in qualifying. Then with the strategy in Silverstone we just throw the dice and see what happened and it didn't work for us. The main thing is I've been in this business too long and I know it will only matter where I finish in Abu Dhabi. So let's ride the rollercoaster and hopefully get back on form very soon."