PALMER: It’s approaching crunch time for Red Bull – is Perez doing enough to keep his seat, or should they look elsewhere?

Max Verstappen delivered a consummate performance throughout the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix weekend. His nous to grab a slipstream off Nico Hulkenberg in qualifying paid dividends in a knife edge fight for pole, whilst his error-free drive on Sunday brought home the victory against Lando Norris, who once again showed stronger race pace.

This was a weekend where Verstappen was really under pressure and required all of his skill to keep Red Bull on top. It also highlighted a perennial issue for Red Bull: when Verstappen is pushed this hard, Perez is often not near enough to help him out at all.