F1 Fans Left Concerned For Sergio Perez's Red Bull Seat After "Unbelievable" Hungarian GP FP1 Crash
F1 fans have been reacting to Sergio Perez's crash at the beginning of the first free practice session ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The Mexican driver lost control of his RB19 after the front and rear left tyres clipped the grass under braking leaving him colliding with the race wall. The newly-upgraded RB19 suffered damage which the team will need to repair ahead of the second free practice session later today.
This comes as pressure is mounting on the Red Bull driver with several rumours of his seat with the Austrian team being at risk. Perez has failed to get into Q3 of qualifying for the last five race weekends and is falling behind Max Verstappen with 99 points now separating them in the drivers' standings. On top of this, Daniel Ricciardo was confirmed as Nyck de Vries' replacement at AlphaTauri with immediate effect, putting more pressure on Perez with speculation of the Australian driver gearing up to take his spot alongside Verstappen.
Fans have been giving their verdict on the moment. One fan commented that it was an effect of being Verstappen's teammate. They wrote to Twitter:
"Sergio Perez crashes out of FP1 in Hungary. Again, a sub-par performance from him.
"I love the guy, but this is the perfect example of what Max Verstappen does to his teammates, quietly. His unrivalled consistency and pace forces his teammates to push so hard, they make mistakes.
"All until it becomes too much, they simply can’t keep up. The mental game of 'Championship fight' that was created in the media obviously didn’t help either."
Another fan commented that it was awkward to see Perez make the mistake in front of Ricciardo and Red Bull junior driver Liam Lawson. They wrote:
"Not only did Sergio Perez crash at the beginning of Danny’s first session in over half a year, he’s also crashed in front of Liam Lawson"
"At this rate Sergio Perez is leaving Red Bull"
"Sergio Perez imploding?? actually unbelievable what is happening.. hope he finds his rhythm back"
"He's keeping Daniel's seat warm"