F1 Perez case, from anti-Max to the crisis. Horner: “He’ll find himself.” But Ricciardo is scalping

Sergio Perez title candidate F1 2023, Sergio Perez in crisis and questioned in Red Bull. The sporting case of the Mexican is quite curious, as he went from rags to riches within 10 GPs. Five GPs to be acclaimed as the only rider able to fight back Max Verstappen followed by 5 GPs in which his position in the Milton Keynes team, always results in hand, returned dangerously in the balance. The truth probably lies in the middle, Checo was not a real opponent of Max before, as Red Bull is not thinking about a removal of him now. Certainly, however, the harsh management of Helmut Marko cannot leave the Mexican very calm, also because, as Nyck De Vries realized, just off the AlphaTauri satellite team to let Daniel Ricciardo race, poor results decide the fate of the riders. And if the Australian proves that he can immediately find inspiration and speed, the pressure and the magnifying glass on Perez’s placements would become increasingly pounding.

swinging

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In the first 5 races Checo was very positive, in qualifying and in the race, with two poles, two victories and two second places, a top-of-the-ranking performance. In the following 5 there was a drop, with a poor third place in Austria and above all five missed Q3s in qualifying, with eliminations in Q1 at Monaco and Silverstone. Not high-level placements, considering that Verstappen took 5 poles and 5 victories at the same time, confirming that he is the absolute leader of Red Bull and that performance deficits cannot be attributed to the car. And so? Perez risk?

“it will unlock”

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No to hear the team principal Christian Horner, who quoted by the official F1 website, just needs support: “He just needs to break this moment – he said – he will do it in Budapest, I’m confident”. Where does this belief come from? “The way he rides – said Horner – I mean, some of his moves in the race at Silverstone, particularly the one on Carlos Sainz at Stowe, were quite stunning. If we look at his pace in the last stint, he gave his best there. Sure it’s frustrating for him to have to come back and fight all the time but he just needs to sort out his qualifying on Saturday and as a team we will do our best to support him. I think that’s where the problem is, in sports, in all sports, 90% is in the head and I think he just needs a good run and he will find his momentum again ”.

in search of perfection

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In short, the team believes in Checo: “In this job we are always looking for perfection, we always try to ask ourselves where we can improve, in this case the question is how can we help Checo achieve what he does on Sunday even on Saturday? I think he’s the type of guy who just needs an arm around. We’re supporting him, we know he can do it, we know he’s going to be back there, and we’re just trying to make sure that happens as quickly as possible.”