Red Bull team principal Christian Horner is confident Sergio Perez will respond positively to his recent run of struggles at next weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
Perez has failed to make it through to Q3 for five races in a row, and was limited to sixth place at Silverstone as a result. However, that marks the fourth time in a row the Mexican has made it back into the top six — with Austria seeing him finish third — and Horner believes there will be an upturn in qualifying form from him at the next race.
“He just needs to break it now,” Horner said. “He’ll do it in Budapest, I’m confident. The way he races, some of his moves –the one on Carlos Sainz in particular was quite stunning into Stowe. If you look at his pace in the last stint, he was right there. It’s frustrating for him that he’s having to fight back all the time but he’s just got to sort his qualifying out on Saturday and as a team we will do our best to support him on that.
“I think it’s just one of those things. As in all sport, 90 percent of it is in the head and I think he just needs a good run and he’ll find his momentum again.”
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Speaking before Daniel Ricciardo’s move to AlphaTauri was announced, Horner says Perez’s struggles in recent races should not be overplayed given his overall position in the drivers’ standings.
“At the moment, he’s still running second in the championship and I think he’s extended his lead over Fernando (Alonso). We’ve got a good car but we need to make sure we have both cars in contention.
“I think he’s the type of guy that just needs an arm around his shoulder. You work with him and that’s what we’re doing. We’re supporting him. We know he can do it and he’ll get back there. We’re just trying to do it as quickly as possible.”