"It just caught me by surprise": Sergio Perez on the moment that was the beginning of the end of his title challenge

Sergio Perez has divulged that his crash in qualifying in Monaco was the moment that truly hurt his confidence in the car and hence started a downward spiral.

In Monaco, the Mexican was still very much in contention for the title. He had driven impressively in the first five races and won two of them. The race in Monaco did, however, turn out to be the moment where everything changed.

From that race onwards, Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen have pretty much driven at completely different performance levels. While the Dutchman has continued to pick up multiple race wins one after the other, the Mexican driver has even struggled to put together enough Q3 appearances.

Talking to the media, Perez revealed that the beginning of the end of his title challenge began in Monaco. He stated that the crash in qualifying was a big surprise for him and since then he has been playing catch up.

“It just caught me by surprise, just getting the rear out of shape, especially really late into the corner, it caught me out. I think what happened in Monaco probably brought me a step back and has taken me some time to fully trust the car the way I was [driving] it. Then you add the external factor with changeable conditions and then there is a bit more of a discrepancy,” Perez was quoted as saying by PlanetF1.com.

“There is a deficit that I’ve been experiencing with the car in the last few races,” he added. “Whenever there is a change of condition, it tends to get wider this ‘limit’, let’s put it that way. That has been something that has caught us out,” he added.

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Sergio Perez addresses the Daniel Ricciardo threat amidst a drop in form

It's an open secret that Daniel Ricciardo is vying for Sergio Perez's seat at Red Bull. That is the reason why he's shown a willingness to join AlphaTauri and try to prove himself.

Perez admitted that while the threat of the Australian is surely there, he's only focussed on himself.

“It’s in my hands, that’s why I’m focused on myself. I’m a winner and I don’t like having bad weekends. It’s not what I’m here for, I would rather be at home doing something else. I’m here because I know that I can do it and I’ve done it before. People just on the sofa forget how much in the little details that we are. You’ve seen it with other drivers for their teams, they’ve had different periods,” he explained/

It will be interesting to see how the second half of the season unravels for Sergio Perez as he tries to regain the lost momentum this season.