Helmut Marko issues a ‘serious’ warning to Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, while Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton is on high alert.

With his advantage over Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton in the F1 drivers’ championship ‘ melting,’ Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has reminded Sergio Perez that he “has to deliver.”

Perez and Hamilton are now separated by only 30 points after Hamilton ate three points from Perez’s lead during the Qatar Grand Prix weekend. On Saturday, Hamilton scored four points while Perez crashed out of the Sprint. On Sunday, however, the Mexican responded by one point.

Perez began in ninth place for the Sprint but was unable to collect any points due to an incident. At Turn 2, the 33-year-old was collected while attempting to overtake Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg. His weekend then deteriorated during the Grand Prix.

Perez finished P13 after another disappointing qualifying performance on Friday. However, Red Bull started the Mexican from the pit lane after replacing his power unit after his Sprint crash. It was not, however, the bane of his race, as Perez received three five-second penalties for track limit violations.

Penalties put Perez to P10, giving him one point back after Hamilton retired after colliding with George Russell. Mercedes watched in horror when their drivers crashed on the first lap at Turn 1. Hamilton accepted full responsibility for his teammate’s feeble turn.

Russell recovered from the first corner crash to finish fourth, 46 seconds ahead of Perez. The Mexican never seemed like he was going to charge through the field after retiring in the Japanese GP. After finishing second in the Italian GP, he had a crash-filled Singapore GP.

Marko has now reminded Perez that he must immediately break the ‘negative spiral’ that the Mexican is in. Otherwise, the Red Bull advisor is concerned that Hamilton or another competitor may pass the Guadalajara native for second place in the standings. He believes Perez’s chances of retaining it are dwindling.

“In between, there were fast laps again,” Marko said regarding Perez’s Qatar GP on ORF, according to Motorsport-Total comments. “However, getting ten-second penalties doesn’t help.”

“However, with two such strong drivers in the McLaren, it becomes critical.” I’m hoping we can hold on to second place. For a while, it appeared to be pretty comfy, but now the lead is melting. Checo has to deliver right away!”