Red Bull has revealed that “significant” sidepod damage from a clash with Oscar Piastri contributed to Sergio Perez ending Formula 1’s Austrian Grand Prix in seventh.
Perez’s ongoing struggles continued at the Red Bull Ring last weekend as he qualified over eight-tenths behind team-mate Max Verstappen’s pole position benchmark.
Despite Verstappen sustaining a late puncture amid contact with Lando Norris over the race lead, the Dutchman still trailed home as the lead Red Bull in fifth position.
However, Red Bull boss Christian Horner has disclosed Perez was battling a wounded RB20 car as he was unable to overhaul Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas on the last tour.
Horner has explained that Perez, who has scored 12 points in five rounds, was at a critical disadvantage against other cars due to a comprehensive gap in his sidepod.
“Checo, I mean, again, it was a tricky race for him,” Horner said. “He had quite a significant contact on the first lap with Lando [Piastri, sic.].
“He had quite a big hole in the sidepod and then the loss of straight-line speed that that gives you, it’s a bit like an air brake.
“So that’s why he was struggling on straight-line speed. So difficult to judge Checo’s race due to the damage that he had.”
When asked to give an exact estimate on the time Perez was losing through the damage, Horner answered: “I don’t have the exact numbers.
“All I know is he had lost a big hole, and it was being reported on the data that there was a significant loss because of it.”
Perez suspects the damage derived from a touch with Piastri’s McLaren at Turn 4 on the opening lap, having been fortunate to escape contact earlier at the first turn.
Meanwhile, the Mexican also lamented speeding in the pitlane as he picked up a five-second time penalty which dropped him behind Hulkenberg’s Haas on the road.
“There was a lot of damage on the sidepod,” Perez said. “I touched a bit with Piastri at Turn 4, I don’t know if it came from there.
“It was unfortunate because we had a good start, but from then on, the car was just nowhere – nothing I could do, I was just off balance.
“Also with making a mistake on going into the pit lane with the pit limiter, it was just a disaster of a race that started really well.
“But I think with just lacking so much pace out there and lagging around, there was no hope for fighting people again.”
