Christian Horner hoping Sergio Perez regains confidence for upcoming races

Christian Horner hopes Sergio Perez to regain his confidence after the 2024 Spanish GP performance. Speaking to onsite media after the race, the Red Bull Racing CEO reckoned that the Mexican would not have achieved more than eighth due to the compromised grid position.

With a three-place grid penalty given after the Canadian GP, Sergio Perez was going to be on the back foot at the Spanish race. The Mexican has spun out and he has driven his car across the track despite the damage, which resulted in the reprimand. After being knocked out of Q1 for four consecutive race weekends, his only consolation in Spain was his qualifying performance where he was eighth fastest.

Horner believes that according to their race simulations, eighth place was the furthest Sergio Perez would have got in Spain. He had a three-stop strategy which allowed him a late attack to clinch eighth place from Pierre Gasly in the closing laps of the race. The Red Bull Racing team chief hopes the clean race weekend and top 10 result give the 34-year-old confidence to perform better in the next few race weekends.

Expressing his opinions on the performance of Sergio Perez in Spain, Horner said:

“Before the race, the simulation said the P8 was the optimum from 11th on the grid. So, he achieved that today, we did it on a three stop strategy. I think, and I hope that he will take quite a bit of confidence out of and you know hopefully take that into the next couple of weekends which are big weekends for him.”

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Christian Horner admits the need to have Sergio Perez perform better in the next few races

Christian Horner admitted that Red Bull Racing needs Sergio Perez to perform better to defend their rivals. With the grid bunching up and the reigning champions challenged by more than one team, it is going to be imperative for Sergio Perez to be in the top 5 to assist Max Verstappen. However, the reality is that he has either finished outside the top 10 or retired in the last four races.

Honer hopes that the current P8 result in Spain will put Sergio Perez into a more confident headspace to perform better in the next few races. He believes that the Mexican’s form at the beginning of the season was competitive. The 34-year-old is yet to win a race in the 2024 season and has been off the podium since the Miami GP.

Asked if he was worried about the constructors championship with the Mexican not being in top form, Horner replied:

“If I'm not mistaken, I think we extended our lead again today. Yeah, look, we need Checo to start in the mix, and he knows that, and the team know that. And if he's on the back end of the top 8, you lose strategic options, you know, whether you split your strategies and so on. So I mean Checo when the first four or five races this year was you know was fantastic. We just need to get him back into that headspace.”

Asked what had changed with Perez in the last four races, Horner said:

“Yeah, I think that he's had a couple of difficult races. But you know and things haven't gone his way, and he's a confidence driven driver, I think. I think that hopefully he'll have taken some he's back in the points. He drove a decent race. You know, hopefully he'll take some confidence out of that for the coming races.”

While Horner defended Sergio Perez, the reality remains that the gap to Max Verstappen is too significant. At circuits like Monaco and Canada, he was outside the top 15 and was outperformed by the Red Bull Racing sister team drivers.

Despite the contract renewal for 2025, his contribution to the 2024 title battle will be key to his future. Red Bull Racing have struggled with their car at certain circuits but the majority of points lost has been due to their second driver.

The former Force India driver is currently down in sixth in the championship standings, while the Dutchman has extended his lead in the championship.