Vulnerable Red Bull driver Sergio Perez has found support from team boss Sergio Perez. The Mexican driver has been far from his best in race qualifying and has failed to take the lead in race drives in recent events. He has not reached Q3 in any of the last five races and has crashed out in the first session on two occasions.
But Red Bull boss Horner has backed the driver to do well in the upcoming race in Budapest. On Pérez’s running performance, Horner said, “He just needs to break it. He’ll do that in Budapest, I’m sure.” After the first five races of the 2023 season, Pérez was only 14 points behind championship leader and teammate Max Verstappen. But in the next race, Pérez finished 99 points behind the Dutch driver.
‘It’s frustrating for him…’: Horner
The team boss also claimed that the driver pulls off some great moves but it is frustrating for him to keep chasing him in the race. “The way he runs… I mean, some of his moves in the race [at Silverstone], especially on Carlos Sainz, Stowe was quite surprising. If you look at his pace in the closing stages, it was right there. It’s frustrating for him that he’s having to struggle all the time, but he’s got his qualifying done on Saturday and as a team, we’ll do our best to support him in that,” said Horner.
Horner further said that getting your mindset right in sports is 90% of the time. Boss said, “I think it’s one of those things. As in sports, in all sports, 90% of it is in the mind and I think he just needs one good run, And he will find his rhythm again.”
Despite not topping the qualification session, Perez is chasing the pack well into Sunday’s race. But the Red Bull boss wants to help Perez in that aspect in every way. “You are always looking for perfection in this business. Of course, we’re always trying to say, ‘Where can we do better?’ In this instance, it’s like, ‘Okay, where can we help Checo achieve what he’s doing on Sunday on Saturday?’