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Perez was not in contention, crashing out in first qualifying after his car slid on the gravel in wet conditions during qualifying, and then failing to score points in a miserable race – where an early gamble on the medium tyres backfired – after starting from the pitlane.

His form was poor in several races, even before a new contract with Red Bull was announced before the Canadian Grand Prix, which technically ties him to the team until the end of 2026.

But there are clear performance targets to be met, and Perez has failed to deliver on them, leaving Verstappen fighting alone at the front as Red Bull faces an increasing threat from rival teams.

Perez has scored 15 points in the last six races, and only the stuttering form of Red Bull’s closest title rivals Ferrari has saved him from the pressure. But McLaren and Mercedes have scored the most points in recent races, and at this rate, with 12 races remaining, there will be a strong battle for the constructors’ title.

Which is why Perez’s recent qualifying setback at Silverstone was ill-timed, and confirmed that Red Bull does not have the car advantage to handle a poor second driver.

If Perez does not prove he can rise to the challenge before the summer break, the prospect of a driver change at F1’s top team becomes a reality for this year, not just for 2025, as while the team sees this as a last resort, it is believed to be a real option.

Perez admitted after Sunday’s British Grand Prix that the last two races before the break were important for him.

“I know where I am in terms of contract and that kind of stuff,” he said of speculation about his immediate future.

“I can’t let this distract me, I need to focus on the next few weekends which are the priority, working with the team to get through this difficult period.”

In terms of who could replace him, Daniel Ricciardo has been given a similar timeframe to consolidate his position at Red Bull, but Lawson could be in a better position.

Lawson is preparing for a Red Bull test for 2024 in the form of a promotional event at Silverstone this week, which will help Red Bull assess his suitability for the first team.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner – who could not hide Perez’s “horrible weekend” after the race – said Lawson’s tests had been planned for some time, “so it’s not something that came up out of the blue”.

Having replaced Ricciardo in five races last year and performed well, Lawson has shown he deserves a real chance in Formula 1, and Red Bull must decide by September whether to put him in one of their cars or not – otherwise he will become a free agent.

The initial idea was to put him at right-back full-time, but Ricardo may retain his place alongside Yuki Tsunoda even if he is not seen as a serious replacement for Perez, and now Lawson is likely to be needed to fill a gap higher up the food chain.

As for Ricciardo, he has been stronger than Tsunoda recently, but struggled at the British Grand Prix. Ricciardo felt the main reason for this was that the team handled qualifying poorly in mixed conditions, but he was also a little behind Tsunoda – who scored a point in 10th – throughout the weekend.

Regarding the opening 2016 season with Red Bull Racing, Ricciardo said Formula 1 had become “more Hollywood” with the wild stories around it in recent years, but he had no evidence that it would be anywhere else in the second half of the year and was “not in a position to say that or think about it or predict it”.

So he wouldn’t make any predictions about what might happen in the driver market. But Ricciardo admitted that “crazy” things can happen in Formula 1.

Forcing Red Bull to make a sudden mid-year change to its first team would be one of the most extraordinary twists in recent memory.