After weeks of speculation, and every indication that Red Bull had lost patience with Sergio Perez, its decision to stick with him after Formula 1's summer break surprised many.
After all, it was only a couple of weeks ago that Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said that Perez's run of non-scoring form was 'unsustainable' for its constructors' championship hopes.
Then last weekend, just as Perez appeared to have done his cause no harm at all with a front-row start in Belgium, he was lambasted by Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko after his form 'collapsed' in the race as he drifted backwards.
Amid the ever-increasing threat from McLaren in the constructors' championship, and no sign of the podium-finishing form that Red Bull so needs, Marko's comments appeared to signal that the end of the road was nigh.
But, as Horner and Marko met to discuss things at Red Bull's Milton Keynes factory on Monday, their conclusion went in the opposite direction.
Rather than feel that Perez had hit the point of no return, their decision was actually to stick with the Mexican for the immediate future.
All talk of a driver shuffle was off the cards – and Red Bull and RB's driver line-ups were going to remain unchanged for now.
While there has been no official comment from the team about the situation, Autosport understands that multiple factors culminated in them deciding that, for now at least, a driver swap was not the right thing to do.
No obvious alternative
Chief among them was the fact that, while Perez's current form is not ideal – he has scored just 28 points since the start of the European season at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix – there is no obvious candidate smashing the door down as a no-brainer replacement.
It is one thing a team accepting there is a problem with its current driver; it is quite another coming up with a better solution that is guaranteed to be better.
Had Red Bull's second RB squad held someone of the calibre of previous promising youngsters like Sebastian Vettel or Max Verstappen, clearly with the potential to bring home wins in the right car, then the Perez outcome would almost certainly have been different.
However, Red Bull's senior management is understood to not be totally convinced RB's Yuki Tsunoda has the right mental approach that it thinks is essential to be fighting at the front.
Furthermore, Daniel Ricciardo – who was supposed to act as Red Bull's comfort blanket and be the candidate to step up if Perez did not deliver – has also not covered himself in glory this year.
The Australian is currently 10 points behind Tsunoda in the standings and, while he has done enough in recent races to suggest he has turned things around enough to keep hold of his own seat for now, it is still not certain that putting him in the Red Bull would be a guaranteed step forward.
Reserve driver Liam Lawson was an initial frontrunner to be given the nod for Red Bull if Perez was axed, but there was understood to be some concern that thrusting him into the high-pressure environment of being alongside Verstappen and expected to fight for the constructors' championship was perhaps a step too far considering his lack of experience.
Better support
As well as the lack of driver replacement options, as Red Bull dug into exploring just why things have not gone well for Perez in recent races, there was a growing feeling that perhaps all the blame should not be placed on the Mexican's shoulders.
Sure, mistakes like he made in Silverstone and Hungary in Q1 when he crashed out, were all of his own doing, but equally, there are other factors that have emerged that left Red Bull feeling that perhaps it should have done more to help give Perez a better shot at delivering.
It is understood that one of the outcomes of the discussions between Horner and Marko was that if Red Bull could find ways to give Perez more of what he needed from his car, then that was a better route to delivering results than throwing someone new in.
Horner's tone in particular was notable on Sunday in Belgium when he suggested that what was needed was more support for Perez, rather than pulling the rug from beneath his feet.
"What's frustrating for everybody is Checo struggling because nobody wants to see him struggle," he explained.
"Everybody wants to see him succeed. The team has been and is right behind him. Everybody wants to see him succeed, because it hurts seeing him in the situation that he is in."
While it is not clear what this extra support for Perez means going forward, it is likely to involve a root-and-branch review of everything around the Mexican and the team to make sure he is totally comfortable.
This could include improving the support structure around him, the people he works with, and the actual make-up of his car – with it widely understood that the direction of upgrades over recent months has taken a level of comfort away from him.
There is a feeling that if Perez can have beneath him a car that he is totally comfortable with to push on the limit, allied to a crew who know how best to get the most out of things, then the results will come.
With the summer break coming up, and a bit of breathing space before the Dutch Grand Prix following the intensity of the last five races, any changes to help Perez can be prepared in a methodological manner to ensure he has what he wants when the cars are back in action.
Better tracks
Another factor that came into play was the way the calendar shapes up after the summer break, which again shifted things in Perez's favour.
It is understood that, as part of Horner's address to the team factory on Monday about Perez staying, he made reference to the fact that upcoming races are those he has 'excelled' at in the past – so they offer a good opportunity to see if changes made around him have an impact.
The next run of races are those where last year he produced some of his best results. There is Italy (second last season) and Baku (victory in 2023), while he also had a fourth-place finish in Zandvoort.
Throwing someone else in at tricky venues like the next batch of grands prix would be far from ideal.
The need to deliver
What it all means is that Perez has brought himself some more time to prove that he can deliver what is needed to see out his contract.
But make no bones about the fact that, despite believing that it can give Perez the support he needs to turn things around, Red Bull is not ignoring the constructors' championship threat.
On current trajectory, based on how quickly McLaren is closing the gap to Red Bull, the Woking-based team could be in front by the time F1 leaves the Singapore Grand Prix.
So that weekend, with a mini break that follows before the triple-header of USA/Mexico and Brazil, will almost certainly mark another key point for Red Bull to take stock again about where things stack up.
If Perez has shown the uplift that Red Bull hopes it can help him make, then there is little reason to believe that he will not see out the season and roll on into 2025.
But, if there is no change in form, and McLaren succeeds in its march to the front to overhaul Red Bull in the constructors' standings, then do not rule out a switch
As Horner made clear after Belgium: "I think for us the focus is on the constructors' championship.
"We've seen another seven or eight points taken off us again today. We need to turn that around coming out of the break in Zandvoort."
Perez is staying for now, but the pressure remains on him to deliver.
