Sergio Perez says he is “very sorry for letting my team down” after another crash in qualifying at the Hungarian Grand Prix, but insists he will fight for his Red Bull future as that’s the example he wants to set to his children.
Red Bull sources have suggested Perez’s seat will be assessed during the summer break after a dramatic downturn in form since the start of the European season back in May. Perez walked away from a heavy crash at Turn 8 after losing control of his car in damp conditions in Q1 at the Hungaroring, but says he is still relishing the challenge of trying to turn the situation around.
“I’m very sorry for letting my team down,” Perez said. “It hurts a lot as a driver when you let your team down, but I will not give up — I will really give my very best to turn this situation around and push as much as possible to get the constructors’ home.
“Like I said before, nothing changes — I’m not worried, I’m fully determined to turn my season around and to focus on my performance.
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“I was just on a good lap but in hindsight probably we didn’t need that lap. It’s something we will review, but I think these conditions can catch out anyone out there. But unfortunately it has been me two in a row.
“I’m determined to turn things around. It’s obviously quite hard to face all the media after these difficult moments but I think when we get back to it, it will be even sweeter.
“I’m really finding it… I wouldn’t say fun, I would say a challenge. It’s something that mentally is really tough and the easiest way would be just to give up after the career I’ve had, to just say it’s been enough, but it’s not what I want to teach my kids. It’s not what I want to show, this sort of character.
“I think it’s important to turn things around, get back to our form, because it was not that long ago, it’s just one after the other. You’ve seen it with many other drivers that they had difficult weekends but probably when you are at Red Bull it’s a lot more noticed. I just want to get back, and I will get back. I will not give up.”
Perez’s existing Q1 time was very nearly enough to get him through but he eventually dropped out in 16th place when the session resumed, and the 34-year-old says he believes he has the potential to still fight back into the points on Sunday.
“It’s something that was so hard to judge, the conditions,” he said. “It was raining harder but at the end you were not losing grip — I was improving my lap, so in hindsight when you look at it we were safe, we didn’t need to do that lap, but you always know a lot afterwards.
“It hurts that it happened again, especially in the run that I am going through, but yeah, I’m determined to turn this around because I believe that [I can].
“Yesterday we had a really good day, a very promising day, so I think we had very good information on the long run. So hopefully tomorrow we can have some really good pace to come through the field and score some points.”