Christian Horner has claimed that getting ‘back to basics’ has helped Sergio Perez to recover his form. The Red Bull driver crashed out of his home Grand Prix in Mexico but produced a solid performance across both races at Interlagos last time out.
Perez went into his home race with the expectations of a nation on his shoulders, as well as pressure from the Red Bull hierarchy with second place in the Drivers’ Championship on the line. After getting an immense launch from P5 on the grid he found himself challenging for the lead but made contact with Charles Leclerc on the approach to Turn 1.
That contact ultimately ended the 33-year-old’s race, but he duly took responsibility for his involvement in the crash and moved on. When the Brazilian GP rolled around it was crunch time for Checo after Lewis Hamilton closed the gap in the standings to just 20 points.
Most expected Perez’s struggles to continue at Interlagos, but a comfortable top-three finish in the sprint race was followed up by an impressive drive through the field to salvage a P4 classification from ninth on the grid. That result has added much-needed security to his place in the World Championship and restored some faith in his ability.
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Discussing Perez’s points haul in Brazil, Horner explained: “I think it was important for his confidence. This is the Checo that we know, and we know what he is capable of. It will give him just the boost he needs going to Vegas, another street track that he always performs well at. And then it’s Abu Dhabi one week after.”
Horner also touched on the importance of Perez’s drive in Brazil for his World Championship aims. “I thought he drove brilliantly well,” he explained.
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“He had a little bit of a wobble at [Turn] 2, which allowed Fernando, who was pretty quick on the straights today, to have a go. He did his best to hang on to it though.
“But I think for Checo to outscore Lewis by 12 points this weekend, it’s been a very strong weekend for him. A third [place]in the sprint, fourth from ninth on the grid with the yellow flag he got in qualifying, I think there’s been very good points for him.”
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