Sergio Perez “just needs an arm around his shoulder,” according to Red Bull boss Christian Horner, who has backed his driver to end his qualifying rut in Hungary.
Perez claimed two pole positions and two victories from the opening five grands prix but has since scored only a single podium after failing to make Q3 on five successive occasions.
Perez dropped out in Q1 in Britain in changeable conditions before recovering to sixth place in Sunday’s race.
“I think he’s the type of guy that just needs an arm around his shoulder,” said Perez.
“You work with him and that’s what we’re doing. We know he can do it and he’ll get back there. We’re just trying to do it as quickly as possible.”
Horner emphasised that “he just needs to break [the qualifying issue] now. He’ll do it in Budapest, I’m confident.
“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 has 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.
“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.”
Perez now trails team-mate Max Verstappen by 99 points.
… monkey business. Christian Horner’s not fooling anybody. Red Bull management control the outcome, at every F1 venue. If the Red Bull people sincerely wanted Sergio Perez to win? He’d be winning. If they’d prefer otherwise, that its in the team’s best interest to gap their two drivers, then they could do that, just the same. Couldn’t they?
Team management are yanking Sergio Perez’s chain. Red Bull’s number 2 driver is always their team chump. Painfully obvious, F1 vehicles are externally controlled. These vehicles can be dialed up or down, exogeneously, by team personnel, their driver never the wiser. If Red Bull management wanted Perez on the front row? He’d be on the front row –
Red Bull management throw bones to Verstappen, table scraps to Perez.