Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says Sergio Perez understands how urgently he needs to reverse his slump in form after he crashed in qualifying today.
Perez is due to start Sunday’s race 16th on the grid after spinning into a barrier at turn eight during Q1. He also failed to progress beyond Q1 two weeks earlier at Silverstone and Horner described his latest setback as “far from ideal.”“We haven’t debriefed yet but obviously he’d set a time that was comfortably in the top 10,” Horner told Channel 4. “Then the rain started to come, he was up on his dash [by] two-tenths.
“But of course, at that point, it started to get slippery. It’s the same for everybody but unfortunately he made quite a big mistake.”
McLaren claimed the front row of the grid for Sunday’s race. They out-scored Red Bull in five of the last six races, during which time Perez scored just 15 points to Max Verstappen’s 119.
Horner said the team are “acutely aware of” Perez’s shortfall in the points standings. “We’re very aware that in the last five [six] races, Checo’s only scored 15 points and it’s unsustainable. They will catch us unless it changes and Checo is very aware of that.
“It’s going to be tough for him to change that from 16th tomorrow. But we’ve got to aim to be in the points again.”
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The Red Bull team principal noted several of their rivals, including junior team RB, successfully got both of their drivers into Q3.
“The problem we have is that the other teams’ drivers are up there in pairings. You’ve got two McLarens, you’ve got two Astons there today. You’ve got two [RBs] out there today. So we can’t afford to have this big delta between the two cars.”
Red Bull chose to change the power unit in Perez’s car after his Q1 elimination at Silverstone, meaning he had to start from the pits. Horner indicated they are not considering the same this weekend.
“Hopefully if there’s nothing that warrants a penalty, like an engine or a gearbox change, then we’d aim to start from the grid,” he said.
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Kribana (@krichelle)
20th July 2024, 21:20
Wait… Red Bull actually care? I thought you have always wanted to make Verstappen look like the greatest of all time? Someone help me out here… For crying out loud Horner, you signed him and this is what you get. You have no right to complain. This is what you get. You might as well just fire Perez and you might still save more money by just participating 1 car for the whole season. Even Mclaren only think that Verstappen is the only Red Bull and Perez is not part of the team. If the whole of F1 wanted to stop Red Bull at this point, all rivals can simply crash into Verstappen and make Red Bull score 0 points in every race at this rate. Please. What a joke this has become in their team. You have signed him. Now deal with it.
David BR (@david-br)
21st July 2024, 11:41
@krichelle Red Bull are very lucky that the team rivalling them is alternating. If it was now consistently McLaren in the ascendancy, having two excellent drivers versus Verstappen and a driver who can’t get out of Q1 in the second fastest car would threaten the WDC too.
Today is crunch time for Pérez – and not solely down to his own driving. He’ll be under pressure at a circuit where overtaking is tricky and the risks of an incident are high. But there may be worse for him: if McLaren finish 1-2, which they should, then Verstappen’s points lead starts falling and, worse, it starts to dawn on Red Bull that even Max Verstappen needs help up front to pressurize the leaders, split their race strategy etc. We’ll find out this GP whether McLaren can convert pole and second into 1 and 2 on the podium and kick start a challenge in the second half of the season.
knightameer (@knightameer)
20th July 2024, 21:31
The question is. Does Redbull themselves understand what needs to be done? Massa 2011-2013 Vs Alonso looks better than this current checo embarrassment
T
20th July 2024, 21:47
Christian you don’t understand, Checo is a driver who likes to keep it on the edge
the edge of unemployment
fine margins and what not you know
Mog
20th July 2024, 21:50
Signing a weak team mate to increase the value of Verstappen has backfired on Red Bull.
But i think we will see a mid season dumping of Perez and Lawson in. Where Lawson goes depends on whether they promote one of the RB drivers to the top team.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
21st July 2024, 2:58
I’m not sure if a weak team mate increases the value of verstappen: you’re only as good as the driver you beat, beating hamilton, norris, leclerc raises your stock more than an average\low level driver.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
21st July 2024, 2:59
More like you only get as much credit as the level of the driver you beat*
mog
21st July 2024, 4:17
Fair point, and actually I agree. At least that makes sense to those that have insight into how F1 works.
My thoughts were that the general narrative in F1 for the past couple of years has been that Perez shows that its not just the car, rather it is the the car + Verstappen that is the winning combo. Perez instead has demonstrated that the car is actually really hard to drive. Also, the complete whitewash of Perez shows that Verstappen is a team mate destroyer, a la Hamilton or Schumacher in his day. These things increase Verstappen’s value as a champion, which is all Red Bull really care about as it is good marketing.
Interesting that Verstappen has changed his tune from not caring who his team mate is to supporting Perez, much like Hamilton did for Bottas when Merc were looking to sign Russel. I think Verstappen also wants a weak team mate, because it makes him look good.
timber
21st July 2024, 13:34
Aren’t you just occupied with the legacy of Verstappen! How come? Are you getting more insecure about it? Getting more difficult to diminish his achievements? Poor you!
Riker (@corsair)
21st July 2024, 12:07
Lawson needs to be driving but putting him in straight to RBR would be mistake (it might damage Lawson’s prospects who should be give time to get comfortable as a regular F1 driver).
I’d much rather Lawson be brought in at RB and either Tsunoda or Ricciardo take Perez’s place at RBR.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
20th July 2024, 22:25
It’s funny the only team in the whole grid right now which has such a disparity between the drivers is the one leading the championship. Even Sargeant has been close to Albon in the past few races…!
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
21st July 2024, 3:00
Indeed, I’ve always been a big critic of sargeant, but he seems to have turned a corner lately, unlike perez, who probably follows the same pattern and would come good again at the end of the season, but seems that might be too late, judging by the rumors.
Edvaldo
20th July 2024, 22:27
33 points in 7 races with a Red Bull plus a lot of damage done along the way and exposing their underside numerous times already.
Perez can’t complain about them not having patience. Kvyat, Gasly and Albon were demoted for less than a tiny little fraction of all the crap he has been giving them.
Todfod (@todfod)
21st July 2024, 13:23
Agree. Kvyat wasn’t even dumped for performing poorly.. they were just incredibly bullish on verstappen. Albon and Hadley were poor.. but not the absolute disaster that Perez has been for red bull this season
Cam
21st July 2024, 2:32
Sergio Perez: The Errors Tour
Maciek (@maciek)
21st July 2024, 4:25
Surely this is the end for Perez. Always liked the guy, but the pressure’s destroyed him.
Jere (@jerejj)
21st July 2024, 5:38
They’ll definitely lose the constructors’ championship at the current rate, which is unlikely to change.
Btw, they didn’t change all components in Silverstone.
David BR (@david-br)
21st July 2024, 11:32
That, finally, sounds like a real ultimatum from Horner.
MichaelN
21st July 2024, 12:04
What a class act this guy is. How about taking some responsibility for the decision to promote this guy? And resigning him. And resigning him. Despite his shortcomings, Pérez has won races and scored many podiums. He doesn’t just go from there to this.
Horner can talk about Pérez all he wants, but rewind just three months and Red Bull was outright dominating the championship. Verstappen and Pérez, who was still 2nd in the WDC after Miami (the big McLaren update).
Back to now; Adrian Newey has left the team, Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari have won races, Pérez has spiralled into whatever this is, Verstappen is increasingly complaining about various gripes, and Horner has finally figured out that the big problem in all this is… Pérez.
Sure.
David BR (@david-br)
21st July 2024, 13:03
I don’t think signing him initially was mistaken as such. There were few real options and he was signed still in the previous regulatory era when preserving tyres was more essential (sadly back then) and Pérez could make up poor one lap speed over the course of a race through his driving style. He could have been a compliment to Max’s style, arguably was for a while, and certainly helped in 2021, especially the final race. But the new era is much more about fast lap times. I think resigning last year was a mistake given the collapse in Pérez’s performance after Miami and resigning this year was basically a refusal to admit that mistake or to anticipate the same collapse happening this season. The admission now seems a bit late, not for demoting Pérez but in terms of whoever replaces him. They’ll be arriving in a team facing some serious issues to maintain their status as champions.
BasCB (@bascb)
21st July 2024, 13:12
Good points made there MichaelN. The real issue for Red Bull is that they aren’t clearly ahead with their car anymore, making margins tighter and putting more onus on everything and everyone else to be perfect.
Max has also been on the edge for much of the last few races, but his is incredibly good at being there and still finding a rhythm, Perez needs a more dependable and predictable car, which Red Bull isn’t able to give their drivers at the moment, possibly not partly thanks to Adrian leaving after the mess internally after Horner let his hormones and attitude go with one employee too many.
Sonny Crockett (@sonnycrockett)
21st July 2024, 12:17
“Slump in form”?
You mean his career.
Broderick Harper (@banbrorace)
21st July 2024, 12:28
Wouldn’t be shocked if Riccardo got hauled in.
Might sound crackers given his form – but we might see signs of the old driver, if he’s in the fastest car (or one of) as he’s absolutely nothing to lose.
But that might be what’s unattractive to Horner. Imagine if he did suddenly find his old form and started challenging Max!!
BasCB (@bascb)
21st July 2024, 13:13
I would. I fully expect Ricciardo to be nowhere, except maybe for a race like Mexico in between and be shipped off into his pension too.
SteveP
21st July 2024, 12:57
That looks like a bit more than a filler and buff job. Maybe keep the steering wheel and throw the rest away?