Christian Horner: “Perez must have a winning spirit”
After an encouraging start to the season, the Mexican fell back into his 2023 ways. Mistakes that are costing him and his team dearly in the face of McLaren's renewed form. A situation that Christian Horner finds difficult to accept. The Briton explains that Sergio Perez needs to rediscover a more conquering state of mind if he is to retain his place next year.
Mexican driver Sergio Perez, currently seventh in the drivers’ championship, is going through a difficult period, marked by a series of disappointing performances. Since his fourth place in the Miami Grand Prix, he has not managed to do better than seventh places in Spielberg, Budapest, and Spa-Francorchamps, which is causing concern within the Red Bull team.
This drop in performance is worrying for Christian Horner, director of the Red Bull team, who sees the gap narrowing with McLaren in the constructors’ standings. The British team is now only 42 points behind Red Bull, and this situation puts additional pressure on the Mexican driver, whose future within the Milton Keynes team could depend on his results in the second half of the season.
Horner clearly indicated that Perez must regain a conquering and determined attitude if he wants to keep his place next year. He needs this mindset, I am glad he is in this mindset. We need to start adding points to the constructors’ championship,” Horner said before the Belgian Grand Prix.
A missed opportunity in Spa
The weekend in Belgium had started well for Perez. After an encouraging Friday, he approached qualifying with confidence, securing a solid third place on the grid, which turned into the front row after the penalty imposed on his teammate Max Verstappen for a power unit change. It was a rare opportunity for him to shine, especially since he has often been more competitive in races than in qualifying.
However, during the race, he failed to capitalize on this advantageous position, plummeting in the rankings to finish in a modest seventh place, three positions behind Verstappen, who had started the race in eleventh position. This disappointing result has affected the team’s dynamics and added a new layer of pressure on the shoulders of the Mexican driver.
Despite these difficulties, Horner has renewed his support for the former Racing Point driver, stating that the team was still behind him. “What is frustrating for everyone is to see Checo struggle, because nobody wants to see him struggle, everybody wants to see him succeed. The team has been and still is behind him. Everyone wants to see him succeed because it hurts to see him in the situation where he is,” Horner declared to GPblog. He described Perez as a driver with incredible strength in the face of adversity, recalling that he has often bounced back when he was against the wall.
Horner hopes that the Mexican will be able to regain the form that had allowed him to play a key role in 2021, contributing to Verstappen’s first world title. However, with the Woking team quickly closing the gap in the constructors’ championship, the former Racing Point driver will have to raise his game to prevent this season from becoming his last with the Austrian team.
Currently, Perez is in seventh place in the drivers’ championship with 131 points. It is crucial for him to react quickly and turn things around, as another series of underperformances could very well seal his fate at Red Bull, especially if these results prevent the team from winning the constructors’ championship. The second half of the season is therefore shaping up to be crucial for the future of Sergio Perez in Formula 1.
