Sergio Perez has admitted he doesn’t trust his Red Bull car in an alarming admission ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Mexican also revealed he did not have the confidence in his RB19 at the halfway stage of the season.
Perez has struggled since crashing out of qualifying at the Monaco Grand Prix with a dire run of form. The 33-year-old has now failed to reach the final part of qualifying at the last five races.
He has also been eliminated in Q1 a shocking three times already this season. However, Perez has now pointed the blame at his Red Bull car as he deflected any personal responsibility.
He told Autosport: “Certainly, when you’re not fully confident with the car. I think what happened in Monaco probably brought me a step back and it has taken me some time to fully trust the car the way I was doing it. And then you add the external factor from the changeable conditions. And then there is a bit more of a discrepancy.”
The dire run has left Perez a staggering 99 points behind his team-mate Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship. The Red Bull star even suggested the weather had played a major part in his recent struggles.
He added: “The deficit that I’ve been experiencing with the car in the last few races, whenever there is a change of condition, it tends to get wider, this limit, let’s put it that way.
“So that’s been something that has caught us out. I think the last five races really have been some change of conditions in qualifying. So that has really put us on the back foot for it.” Verstappen criticised Perez at the British Grand Prix, admitting the former Force India star had to do better.
After Perez was knocked out in Q1 at Silverstone, Verstappen said: “I don’t know why it went wrong today, but of course, with our car you have to get into Q3.” It comes weeks after another pointed dig from Verstappen at the Canadian Grand Prix.
The Dutchman claimed the mood would be “very different” for Red Bull if he wasn’t in attendance with Perez only managing P6. Red Bull chief Helmut Marko has appeared to dial up the pressure on Perez with his F1 future uncertain.
The Austrian was annoyed at Perez at Silverstone, demanding an immediate improvement from his driver. He commented: “Perez needs to get a grip on his qualifications… It has always been a weakness of his. It just happens too often and he has to work on that.”
F1 TV presenter Will Buxton also stressed Daniel Ricciardo’s promotion to AlphaTauri suggested that Red Bull were “seriously assessing” the Australian to take over from Perez in the top team.
