F1 News: Sergio Perez Under Fire From Red Bull Chief After Brazilian GP Disaster - 'Frustrating'

Saajan Jogia | Nov 7, 2024

Jun 8, 2024; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Red Bull Racing CEO and team principal Christian Horner in the pit lane at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images / Eric Bolte-Imagn Images

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner revealed Sergio Perez's "frustrating" performance during the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, noting it as another missed opportunity to regain ground in the Constructors' Championship. The team had been leading the standings before the Azerbaijan Grand Prix but lost momentum to McLaren and later, Ferrari.

The highlight of the race weekend in Brazil was Max Verstappen's spectacular recovery from the 17th spot to the lead with a margin of more than 19 seconds to runner-up Esteban Ocon in Sunday's Grand Prix. Horner hinted that there was no evidence of problems on Perez's RB20 F1 car that should have led him to qualify 12th and finish one spot ahead in 11th.

In the Sprint race, McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri secured the top two positions, with Max Verstappen finishing third. Perez, who qualified 13th, managed to recover five places, finishing in 8th. This improvement came after the Mexican driver’s request to race with a new chassis was granted. While the Dutchman added significant points to Red Bull's tally in the Constructors' Championship, Horner saw no reason why Perez could not finish the Grand Prix in the points and assist Red Bull in closing the gap to its rivals in the front. He told the media:

"It was a difficult race for Checo.

"Spinning at the beginning of the race drops him down. It was an opportunity in the constructors' to take a big chunk out of both Ferrari and McLaren and unfortunately, we've not been able to capitalise on that.

"Obviously, that's frustrating, but we'll go away and have a look at it and come back hopefully fighting hard in Vegas."

When asked if Perez faced a technical challenge in the race that came his way, Horner clarified:

"Not that I'm [aware of]. There was nothing evident to me in the race."

At present, McLaren leads the championship with 592 points, followed by Ferrari holding 557 points, and Red Bull in the third spot with 544 points.

However, Perez criticized his team for fitting cold tires on his RB20 F1 car, resulting in a disastrous Sao Paulo Grand Prix. The race was disrupted by several retirements, including Lance Stroll, who couldn't start after his Aston Martin AMR24 became stuck in the gravel during the formation lap. This abandoned start triggered a series of events that reshuffled the grid and delayed the race’s start time from 12:30 to 12:47 local time. While drivers were permitted to swap tires, Red Bull missed the chance and kept Perez on cold tires, which he claimed caused him to spin out in the first lap. He said:

"It was a disaster because we didn't know at the time that we could change tyres until the very last minute - and there was no time to change them.

"We started the race with very cold tyres and then, as there was no one ahead of me, I went into a wall of water, so the start was a total disaster.

"We were making progress, but unfortunately, we pitted at the red flag, and then at the restart, the visibility was zero, but we were making some progress.

"We came all the way up to Liam [Lawson], and we touched a bit in Turn 1, and then I went straight at Turn 4 and lost the position to Lewis [Hamilton]. 

"It was a total disaster and nothing really worked."