Red Bull boss Christian Horner admitted Ferrari’s troubles in Formula 1’s Canadian Grand Prix mitigated the impact Sergio Perez’s “horrible” weekend had on the team.
Ferrari entered the weekend heralded as the favourite to take back-to-back victories, but the Italian marque struggled and concluded the race with a double retirement.
Meanwhile, Red Bull rebounded from its own setback in Monaco to seize a hard-earned win through Max Verstappen to extend its advantage over Ferrari to 49 points.
However, Perez was unable to capitalise on Ferrari’s absence at the sharp end as he dipped to a successive Q1 exit and then couldn’t make much headway from 16th.
The Mexican wasn’t in contention to obtain a meaningful result when he lost his Red Bull under braking at Turn 6 and he was made to retire with a damaged rear wing.
Horner has reiterated Red Bull’s desire to see Perez be closer to Verstappen, citing that Ferrari’s disastrous showing in Montreal made his troubles less consequential.
“It was a horrible weekend for Checo and obviously, we picked up some damage,” Horner told Sky Sports F1. “He’ll need to come back strong in Barcelona.
“Thankfully, Ferrari had a shocker and didn’t get any points so that let us off the hook somewhat, but we need both cars scoring.
“We got away with it today but we need Checo back up there where he was at the beginning of the year from Barcelona onwards.”
But although Perez’s points return over the last three rounds stands at a pitiful four points, Horner has pledged his credence in his recently-renewed driver to recover.
“What we see with Checo time and time again is that when you think he’s on the ropes, he bounces back,” Horner added.
“He’s a tough racer and he’s a tough character and it hurts him more than anybody else.
“He’ll be determined to come back and show everybody the form we know he’s capable of and that he showed in the first four races of this year.”
Perez remains in fifth in the Drivers’ Championship but now trails a sizeable 87 points behind team-mate Verstappen, who holds a 58-point lead over Charles Leclerc.
Although Perez is optimistic he will escape his slump, the Red Bull racer has been given a three-place grid drop in Spain for continuing with a damaged car in Canada.
