“He’ll do it in Budapest”: Christian Horner is 'confident' about Sergio Perez breaking his poor qualifying streak and reaching Q3 in F1 Hungarian GP

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner believes Sergio Perez will improve his performance at the 2023 F1 Hungarian GP.

Ever since the Miami GP, the Mexican driver has experienced a major dip in his performance. He has not been able to qualify in the top 10 and has only bagged one podium in the last five races.

Since Red Bull is known for being rash in changing drivers who are not performing well, there were rumors surrounding Perez's departure from the team.

However, Horner insisted that he still has faith in Perez, whom he believes will perform much better in Budapest. The Red Bull team principal also praised some of Checo's moves during the British GP, where he eventually finished sixth after starting from 15th.

“He just needs to break it now. He’ll do it in Budapest; I’m confident. The way he races...I mean, some of his moves in the race [at Silverstone], the one particularly on Carlos Sainz, was quite stunning into Stowe. If you look at his pace in the final stint, he was right there,” Horner said.

Furthermore, Horner addressed Perez's recent record of poor qualifying sessions and how he only needs just one good qualifier to rediscover his mojo.

“It’s frustrating for him that he’s having to fight back all the time, but he’s just got to sort his qualifying out on Saturday, and as a team, we’ll do our best to support him on that. I think it’s just one of those things. As in sport, all sport, 90% of it is in the head, and I think he just needs a good run, and he’ll find his momentum again,” Horner added.

Lastly, Christian Horner explained how Sergio Perez is the type of driver who needs a bit of support from the team, which Red Bull is offering at the moment. He assured the Mexican driver that the Austrian-British team is behind him and will support him through this rough patch.

“I think he’s the type of guy that just needs an arm around his shoulder. You work with him and that’s what we’re doing. We’re supporting him, we know he can do it, we know he’ll get back there, and we’re just trying to make sure it happens as quickly as possible,” Horner concluded.

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Red Bull advisor on why removing Sergio Perez 'makes no sense

Although Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko is known for making harsh decisions and comments on drivers who are not performing well, he feels otherwise for Sergio Perez.

Since Checo is currently second in the drivers' championship table, Marko feels that it makes no sense to remove him from the team yet. However, he did point out how the Mexican driver needs to improve his qualifying performance.

"Checo is second in the world championship, so it would make no sense to want to get rid of him now. His race was also good at Silverstone, but he needs to improve in qualifying," Marko told De Telegraaf.

Sergio Perez has 156 points in the drivers' championship so far. However, he is 99 points behind his Red Bull teammate, Max Verstappen, who is comfortably leading the championship.