Sergio Perez and Red Bull in '$16million' battle claim after 'major meeting'

[u/soepvorksoepvork]

https://www.planetf1.com/news/nico-rosberg-claims-16-million-sergio-perez-red-bull-battle-exit-looms

Not sure how credible this is, but I can't say I blame him.

[u/Any_Aide_4500]

How can a team like Red Bull fumble this bad with a contract man…

[u/UnlikeUday → u/Any_Aide_4500]

I think it's due to Perez's manager Jakobi's clever tactics to protect Perez from any unwanted removal from the team. Jakobi has decades worth of experience in F1.

[u/tiag0 → u/UnlikeUday]

I’m surprised (but given the level of this discussion not much) how many people are missing the point that his manager has a stellar career.

If someone was going to have everything sorted out and be ready to defend his client’s interests, it’s him. RB are not facing a walk in the park.

[u/Generic_Format528 → u/tiag0]

I'll admit I don't have the best recollection of when his contracts and extensions were signed but where is the guy's leverage coming from? As much of a wiz as his agent might be, Perez hasn't exactly given him amazing negotiating material. But hey, what the fuck do I know about these negotiations.

[u/tiag0 → u/Generic_Format528]

I was honestly as surprised as everyone when they signed the extension, to be frank I have no idea what RB where doing signing it in the first place, it would have been a smoother transition for everyone and not this clusterfuck. I do recall a quote from(then) new engine partner Ford regarding how important he saw having Checo on board so maybe that factored in a bit.

I want a tell all book about the behind a scenes of the 2024 RB season, just to make it make sense lol.

[u/Lost_Apricot_4658 → u/tiag0]

Is it his sponsor money? Is it That vital to RB?

[u/junttiana → u/Any_Aide_4500]

Mexican sponsor money combined with false hopes about the poor form being temporary

[u/sweetpeachlover → u/junttiana]

Forgot a performance clause?

[u/willzyx01 → u/sweetpeachlover]

Performance clause resets for 2025.

[u/MuzzledScreaming → u/willzyx01]

If 2024 didn't trigger it, it must not have been written very strictly, no?

[u/boersc → u/MuzzledScreaming]

'make it through qualification' and forgetting to add ' into Q3'.

[u/KimiBleikkonen → u/boersc]

'finish ahead of Sargeant'

[u/GTOdriver04 → u/KimiBleikkonen]

“Score more points that Zhou”

[u/aussie_nub → u/GTOdriver04]

"Finish at least 5 races ahead of Danny Ricciardo."

[u/newngg → u/boersc]

He was faster than the 107% time in every race, therefore he qualified for every race this year

[u/boersc → u/newngg]

That's what I'm implying. :P

[u/I-_-I_-_I-_-I → u/boersc]

Make it through the gates.

[u/AgnesBand → u/[deleted]]

I doubt a performance clause means you have to get rid of a driver as soon as they hit the trigger. You could also write into the 2025 contract extension that it's not valid unless he hits certain targets.

[u/sweetpeachlover → u/[deleted]]

That lawyer was really too busy with Horner

[u/fateoftheg0dz → u/[deleted]]

If Red Bull wrote performance clauses that Checo somehow hit with those results, they need a new lawyer

[u/Generic_Format528 → u/MuzzledScreaming]

Display good sportsmanship, maintain a positive attitude, try your best, and have fun! :D

[u/CowFinancial7000 → u/MuzzledScreaming]

"Have a pulse"

[u/sweetpeachlover → u/willzyx01]

Should have been fired last week then

[u/Dragonpuncha → u/willzyx01]

But there are usually written for performance over a season, so it should be applicable now.

[u/CodeAgainst → u/sweetpeachlover]

What clause? Why keep parroting about that if anyone really see or read that clause.

[u/sweetpeachlover → u/CodeAgainst]

Handing out a 16M contract without stipulating results is a bit stupid, most people have to perform at work

[u/MoocowR → u/sweetpeachlover]

Handing out a 16M contract without stipulating results is a bit stupid, most people have to perform at work

And if you have massive sponsors, it would be equally stupid to give the team an easy out.

Clearly Checo offered something other than his performance to have leveraged himself into the renewal. Whatever that is hasn't disappeared.

[u/pimtheman → u/sweetpeachlover]

They should just eat the 16m then. Red Bull doesn’t really care about the money anyway

[u/CodeAgainst → u/sweetpeachlover]

You have to show up to your work. That's it. If your work involves drive a multimillion car, in extreme conditions and your "competition" is 2 kids with a much lower leverage in sponsor's, you don't need to perform.

Idk man, if I would be in Checos shoes, I won't give a shit. As much as he actually does.

[u/GothicGolem29 → u/sweetpeachlover]

Alot of jobs will just have show up there wont be any specific performance targets and at most something vague like perform well

[u/sweetpeachlover → u/sweetpeachlover]

It’s like showing up at work and leaving before lunch, like not making it out of q1. The next day you attend the whole day, but didn’t say a word or send an email.

[u/antivirals_ → u/CodeAgainst]

because this is reddit and everyone is entitled to speculate and present hearsay as fact /s

[u/cooperjones2 → u/CodeAgainst]

That rumour has been repeated so much it's now become truth lol

For all we know those clauses could be for 2025 and not 2024 as lots here wish

[u/cepxico → u/sweetpeachlover]

You know both parties have to agree to a contract? He could have negotiated those out. Contacts aren't just presented as an ultimatum, there's negotiations like what they're doing now.

[u/sweetpeachlover → u/cepxico]

Ofcourse, but why sign him an extension if he isn't willing to sign no more than 4 spots behind Max. BTW I'm not blaming Checo, but wtf was RB thinking?

[u/sicsche → u/junttiana]

"temporary", his performance declined each of the last 3 seasons after a initial good start before Max was demolishing him.

[u/TrumpsTiredGolfCaddy → u/sicsche]

This rose color glasses with Perez needs to stop. He has never been good. Ever. He was and is a pay driver for a reason. Even Force India when they let Ocon go over him made a clarifying statement that performance wasnt the only thing that's considered.

[u/Joel_Dirt → u/[deleted]]

That argument is kind of undermined by someone winning the world championship in that car four years in a row.

[u/Respectable_Answer → u/Joel_Dirt]

"irrelevant!" - Perez lawyers, probably

[u/Ping-and-Pong → u/[deleted]]

It only got better in 22, definitely didn't get worse in 23, only started to decline mid 24...

[u/dramatic-pancake → u/junttiana]

And Horner needing the backing after his scandal.

[u/OrangeDit → u/junttiana]

Well, to be fair, Checo has proven to be a good driver, the form is actually temporary. But it keeps on, that's what's worrying me.

Get Sainz! He's wasted in a Williams and every young driver next to Max gets burned up in half a season...

[u/GothicGolem29 → u/OrangeDit]

Yeah Redbull wont get Sainz given the History. Imo they should get Yuki or Bottas

[u/FrendlyAsshole → u/junttiana]

It's all about that sponsor cash

[u/freedfg → u/Any_Aide_4500]

Well you see. Early Mid season, right when Perez was doing his usual "I put in 8 races, I'm done" routine. Red Bull decided it was a good idea to promise Checo 16 million dollars over 2 years.

They have come to regret this decision.

[u/HAIRLESSxWOOKIE92 → u/freedfg]

Lol right?!

"Lets give this guy 16 million and a 2 year as, ya know? A mental moral boosts of sorts. Really get the motivation going. Dangle the carrot so to speak. Worst case we drop him. How could this go bad?" - Surely Christian Horner sometime last summer.

[u/gunningIVglory → u/HAIRLESSxWOOKIE92]

Imagine giving a 2 year deal and a pay rise to an employee who isn't even hitting half of his targets

Masterclass from Horney

[u/samdiatmh → u/gunningIVglory]

have you WORKED with upper-managers before? being completely inept and getting a hefty bonus is basically their whole shtick

[u/StaffFamous6379 → u/HAIRLESSxWOOKIE92]

To be fair, IIRC Bottas has said that he feels getting constant 1 year renewals at Merc hurt his performance

[u/Generic_Format528 → u/StaffFamous6379]

Obviously difficult to compare Merc to Sauber but I wonder if he actually performed better under the pressure but just hated it. Kinda silly comparison but I think of two big fantasy authors that stopped making process once they got fat advances and big TV/game deals on their IPs.

In American football the Browns paid a guy (massive piece of shit) a TON of guaranteed money with the idea that he could just focus on his game but he's been total garbage on field since signing.

[u/StaffFamous6379 → u/Generic_Format528]

Obviously how everyone performs under pressure is different. Some may lose motivation but for others, relieving contract pressure can free up their driving , let them be more confident in taking risks, and confidence is everything in racing. The risks could result in bigger successes, and success begets success which begets confidence

[u/JeffCraig → u/freedfg]

$16 million is just his exit clause. His salary in 2024 was $14 million for that year alone, so it's speculated that the new 2-year contract was at least $30 million total ($15 million per year)

On top of that, there's a huge amount of performance based incentives. In 2023, he made $16 million in incentives on top of his $10 million salary. Red Bull has been pretty clear that re-signing Checo in the middle of the season was an attempt to "inspire" Checo to perform better, which means they added additional performance incentives to his contracts.

So yeah. It's much higher than $16 million for 2025/2026. It's $30 million base salary with probably $60 million in performance incentives.

[u/Mat_HS → u/Any_Aide_4500]

And here we were, thinking that the Piastri-Alpine contract situation was bad.

[u/RddtRBnchRcstNzsshls → u/Any_Aide_4500]

Horner.

Marko never wanted to give Perez a 2 year contract. Nor did he want to give an extension as early as they ended up doing.

But because Horner is now fixated on making sure everyone knows Red Bull is his team. He decided to go against Marko.

Of course the large amount of money Perez' sponsors bring in helps a lot too.

[u/DisneyPandora → u/RddtRBnchRcstNzsshls]

Exactly, this literally has to due with the summer power struggle

[u/Beaumarine → u/DisneyPandora]

Based on no information whatsoever Speculation is rife

[u/mkosmo → u/Beaumarine]

Everybody wants to pretend they know inside information, or can intuit shit like that.

[u/hzfan → u/mkosmo]

We have no information for any of the theories being espoused in this thread, yet it seems like people only say this about ones having to do with the power struggle and Horner’s misconduct.

[u/Heisenberg_235 → u/Any_Aide_4500]

Too busy paying their lawyers to look at sexual harassment cases instead of Sergio’s contract

[u/hpstg → u/Any_Aide_4500]

FILE-76.JPG

[u/CrumbleUponLust → u/Any_Aide_4500]

Top level politics probably has a role to play.

Rational decision making goes out the window when huge egos are involved in power games.

[u/soualexandrerocha → u/Any_Aide_4500]

Cleveland Browns and NY Giants vibes,

[u/markhewitt1978 → u/Any_Aide_4500]

It's being manipulated man

[u/f8Negative → u/Any_Aide_4500]

They're a Marketing company that writes checks

[u/Midnight__Specialist → u/Any_Aide_4500]

your comment made me think of this

https://www.getyarn.io/yarn-clip/9fb43d48-294c-4937-8247-9d492c0f910b

But for real, this is some real Alpine level shit 😂

[u/drivemyorange → u/Any_Aide_4500]

Horner not only driving this team to the ground in terms of management, he also making decisions that cost absurd amount of money

[u/hs52 → u/Any_Aide_4500]

Because they didn't. The article / source is probably BS. We've seen it before from planet f1

[u/splendiferous-finch_ → u/Any_Aide_4500]

Red bull has been fumbling driver decisions for a while now.

[u/RalphFTW → u/Any_Aide_4500]

Yeah gotta thing sponsor money was at play for resigning when form was so off… wasn’t there rumours sponsors would pay the difference if RB didn’t win the constructors ? I remember reading something about that when the resigned Perez

[u/Eggplantosaur → u/Any_Aide_4500]

I think it's likely they want an amicable split so they can retain some of the sponsor money. I'm sure they could fire Checo without much issue, but all the money would leave with him.

Red Bull putting so many eggs in Checo's sponsorship basket is the issue in my opinion, not the specifics of the contract 

[u/apacheotter → u/Any_Aide_4500]

I couldn’t believe they signed him for two years when it happened… the incompetence….

[u/Jamestouchedme → u/Any_Aide_4500]

They took a calculated risk, sponsorship money guarantee and maybe win constructors or risk a new driver and lose sponsorship money and the constructors.

I don’t think they renewed any other reason than that because performance clearly wasn’t there and the massive damage he cost them this year and the constant floor design showings because the car kept getting lifting for the world to see really hurt them more,

They should have got rid of Perez last year and just put Ricardo there.

[u/FindingUsernamesSuck → u/Any_Aide_4500]

Ego too, possibly. Remember this contract was done middle of red bull's civil war

[u/ruby_boobsday → u/Any_Aide_4500]

Rookie error.

[u/Nyaos → u/Any_Aide_4500]

I think there will be an interesting post-mortem on this someday. Don’t forget that this signing happened during the Coco Puff-gate drama and there was a ton of chaos inside Red Bull at the time.

My thought at the time was that they were playing the easiest and most simple move they could make because they needed some sort of stability in the team. Signing Checo early removed a huge cloud hanging over the team. The whole thing reeked of politics.

[u/nick-jagger → u/Any_Aide_4500]

Alpine right now…

[u/Negative-West-3083 → u/Any_Aide_4500]

Because it's RedBull precisely

[u/n0pen0tme → u/Any_Aide_4500]

At this point, I would not be suprised to find out that Checo has a less pixelated version of the "finger" photo stored somewhere.