Red Bull team principal Christian Horner tells Mirror Sport about Sergio Perez’s efforts ahead of the United States Grand Prix Ky to turn his flagging F1 form around
Sergio Perez succeeds Christian Horner has said it takes overtime to stop the slump and get his season back on track .
The Mexican driver is perhaps in the midst of his most difficult period as a Red Bull driver. Despite having the fastest car on the grid, he has scored just five points in the past three full racing weekends.
And its race was questioned after causing a number of crashes during this period. Yuki Tsunoda, Alex Albon and Kevin Magnussen were among those he crashed into during races in Singapore and Japan.
In Qatar two weeks ago, he received three separate penalties for breaching track limits, which hindered his progress and meant he finished 10th. Poor form Perez’s damage caused Lewis Hamilton to only close the gap of 30 points in the driver rankings.
Red Bull has never seen two of its drivers finish first and second in the standings before. And since they’ve already won titles in both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships, helping Pérez retain second place is the only thing left on their to-do list.
Although principal Horner is certainly concerned about his driving form, he told Mirror Sport how happy he is to see Perez doing everything he can to return to form. “He spent three days on the simulator last week, which he had never done before,” he said.
“Three days in a row of trying to help him find the root cause of some problems he thought he had in Qatar and Japan. I think he’s made great progress and hopefully that will come this weekend. He is an extra meter, which is important.
Rumors last week suggested that Perez could be expelled if he failed to retain second place, but Horner has rejected that suggestion. “It was not something we discussed or even considered,” he promptly responded when the complaint was presented to him. “Checo is our rider and we want to support him in the best way possible.
“We think he can reach second place in the championship, but he faces Tough opponents and still many races to go. We chose Checo first because of their experience and ability to handle pressure. He did a lot for us in ’21 and ’22, contributing to the Constructors’ Championship last year and this year with the wins he achieved.
“We know what he’s capable of and we haven’t seen that in the last two races. We want to support him to make sure he gets back to that early-season form. It’s a tough season and tough being Max’s team-mate – we mustn’t forget the challenge that is mentally.
“We know what Checo is capable of and we know that qualifying tends to be his weakness, but when racing he comes alive on a Sunday afternoon. He’s demonstrated that time and time again. We have six one-two finishes this year, he’s won two Grands Prix and he’s still second in the world championship 30 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton. It’s not bad at all!”
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