10/05/2021
NEWS STORY
As Max Verstappen once again find himself battling the two Mercedes alone, Christian Horner admits that his team "desperately" needs Sergio Perez in the mix.
While on paper Perez finished fifth on Sunday, the reality is that for much of the race he was running sixth, and it was only in the final stages that he was able to overhaul Daniel Ricciardo whose tyres were rapidly fading away.
Ignoring the fact that Charles Leclerc was a further 10s ahead, Perez' race was compromised form the outset after he could only qualify eighth - a situation he blamed partly on a (left) "shoulder issue".
"This isn't an easy track to overtake on which made for a tough race," admitted the Mexican. "We had a good first lap and made up some positions but it took me quite a long time to get past Daniel.
"The McLaren was extremely fast on the straights so it was really hard to try a move but we made it work around the outside of Turn 1. I knew what I had to do, I pushed on and managed to make it work but we didn't have much tyre life left afterwards so it was tough.
"I'm getting more confident with the car now," he insisted, "and every time I get to the end of a weekend, I think, ‘I wish the weekend was just starting now'.
"Also every circuit is different so what I learn here will be different to what I need in Monaco, but the main thing is that I am still adapting and hopefully soon we can be 100%."
However, "soon" can't come quickly enough for team boss, Christian Horner, who needs Perez up there with his teammate.
"The two lead guys were so far ahead of the rest of the pack as it were, that Lewis had a free stop as he had in Hungary," explained Horner at race end.
"You know that he's only got to get past his team-mate," he said of Hamilton, "and that was never going to be an issue.
"So that's why we need both cars up there strategically so that option isn't available to Mercedes.
"I think it's coming together for him," he insisted. "He had an off-day (in qualifying) and he was compromised in the race behind Daniel. Obviously then he didn't manage to make the headway at a track where it is so difficult to pass, because we desperately need him to be in that gap so that the Mercedes' don't have the strategic options that they had.
"I'm convinced that that will come for Checo, as he finds more confidence, and more time in the car."
Despite losing to the Black Arrows, Horner takes comfort from the fact that the RBR16B gave a good account of itself on a circuit Mercedes has dominated in recent years.
"I think the Mercedes - we've seen it since Bahrain - I think that their race pace has been better than ours at each race that we've seen so far," he said, "and I think that their degradation, you know, has been better than ours.
"So we knew these last two circuits would play to their strengths - and they done that - but we're an awful lot closer than we have been."