01/07/2023
NEWS STORY
As he fails to make it out of Q2 for the fourth successive race weekend, Christian Horner is baffled by Sergio Perez's failure to keep within the white lines.
This was the weekend when the Mexican was supposed to get his championship back on track, instead, following three violations of the track limits which left him 15th on the grid after failing to set a representative time, he is fearing for his future.
Even since Monaco, Perez's season has gone from bad to worse, and the Mexican isn't the only one feeling frustrated.
"He'd got the pace, he'd got a car that was easily capable of being on the first or second row, he was matching Max's times, stay in the white lines!" Christian Horner told Sky Sports.
"It was strike one, strike two, 'Checo just stay in the white lines', strike three, and that was it," added the Briton.
"It's hugely frustrating because he could have been there, he could have done it. That's the frustration. It's fantastic that we got the pole, but it feels not complete.
"At least Max responded to 'stay in the white lines'," he continued, "he did that so he built a conservatism into his laps to make sure that he had a wheel inside the line. There was a little bit more time in the car in that last sector if he hadn't have gone for it. It was about driving with a bit of restraint.
"It was crystal clear," sighed Horner, when talking of Perez's final lap which saw him run wide at Turn 10, his two previous violations coming at Turn 9.
"It's hugely frustrating," he added. "The frustrating thing is we know he can do it, he did a 4.9 on that lap, he was three hundredths off Max. He could have been four tenths slower and still been in. Q2, that's not the time to be doing it. That was the frustrating thing because he could have done it today.
"It is the same for everybody, there's a car ahead which is not going to have helped but then you build in a little more margin. It's annoying because we know he could have been there."
Reacting to the driver's recent loss of form, Horner said: "The most pressure he's under, is the pressure he puts him under himself. Today he had the pace, practice one he was right there, the lap times he was doing, he was tenth for tenth with Max. So that's the annoying thing, that's the frustration. He can do it.
"It's just a great shame because I think this would have really kick-started things for him and of course, the frustration for us as a team is now we have two Ferraris a little closer versus one Red Bull with Checo out of position."
While accepting that the first two calls by the stewards were fair, Perez insists that the third was due to being compromised by Alex Albon who was running ahead of him.
"Once I got the feedback it was on the way to Turn 10 it was all clear," he said. "On my final lap I found I think Albon and I just went straight, I could not stop. I think I lost a tenth or a bit more than that just going straight but the stewards wouldn't consider that I was blocked.
"There are so many things I can control but unfortunately this one, you are closing a good lap and all of a sudden you are blocked and you have a penalty. I think the system is wrong.
"We will try on Sunday. It's just frustrating that we do not have a good system and we are not able to consider when these things happen."
Check out our Friday gallery from the Red Bull Ring here.