Sergio Perez suffered another blow at the Formula 1 race in Spielberg. After a weak qualifying and a weak sprint, the Red Bull driver had no chance in the race and only managed P7. Unlike the days before, however, the Mexican had a good explanation for the failure.
The reason why he lost about a second to teammate Max Verstappen for large parts of the Grand Prix on the shortest track on the Formula 1 calendar in terms of lap time is damage to his RB20. Perez explained this after the race: “There was major damage to the sidepod. I had contact with Oscar Piastri in turn 4.”
Sergio Perez explains damage: Contact with Piastri was to blame
In the first lap, it was close between Perez and the McLaren driver in Turn 4. The The Red Bull driver pushed Piastri to the edge of the track and even just over it, which is where the contact occurred. “It was a shame because we had a good start beforehand. After that, the car was driving like it was on a knife edge.”
During the Grand Prix, Perez complained about the consequences of the damage. On the one hand, the balance and grip were no longer right, and on the other hand, he lacked traction in the slow corners. The last point in particular was noticeable in duels and was the main reason why he was unable to overtake Haas driver Nico Hülkenberg until the end of the race.
Dr. Helmut Marko: Perez’s upward trend is here
“We were just lacking so much pace and sliding around so much. There was no hope that I could fight with the people in front of me,” Perez continued. Red Bull motorsport advisor Dr. Helmut Marko defended his driver because of the damage. “He had massive damage to the car, which caused him to have very strong understeer. We saw the massive damage on the cameras, which we couldn’t repair,” said Marko.
Perez tried to limit the consequences somewhat by adjusting the differential settings on the vehicle. With moderate success. Nevertheless, Marko is sure that the form curve is heading in the right direction again: “I see it as positive again. There is an upward trend,” says Marko.
Team boss Christian Horner also added that the nature of the damage had also led to a loss of top speed on the straight. “It worked a bit like an air brake,” Horner described the damage. “It’s difficult to judge Checo’s race because of that,” he added.
But what Perez definitely has to take on his shoulders is a penalty he received during the Austrian GP. During his first pit stop, he was given an extra five seconds because he drove too fast in the pit lane.
Despite the team’s declaration of confidence, Perez’s record over the last five Formula 1 race weekends can hardly be glossed over. The vice world champion, who was previously in second place in the world championship, collected just 15 points in the five races including the sprint on Saturday – an average of three points per weekend. At least: with seventh place in Austria, he achieved his best result since the Miami GP – not a particularly glorious result in the Red Bull.
However, Max Verstappen caused the biggest stir in the Red Bull camp in Spielberg with his collision with Lando Norris. This is how Christian Horner and Dr. Helmut Marko assessed the situation.