Red Bull’s Christian Horner welcomes sprint confidence-booster for Sergio Perez in Sao Paulo
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Sergio Perez finished third in the standalone sprint but will start in ninth at the Brazilian Grand Prix after a yellow flag disrupted his flying lap in qualifying.
PHOTO: AFP
SAO PAULO – Red Bull team boss Christian Horner welcomed a confidence-boosting result for Sergio Perez in Saturday’s Sao Paulo sprint and said again that the Mexican would continue to race for the Formula One champions in 2024.
The Briton told reporters after the sprint race that speculation about Perez’s future was nothing but “noise”, even if it had affected “Checo”.
“It’s only noise on the outside; on the inside everything’s always clear. I am absolutely confident and clear that Checo will be our driver next year,” he said.
Perez had shrugged off the chatter on Thursday when he said: “I’ve been in the sport for 13 years and I know that everyone has a different agenda here, even the journalists, so I’m used to it.”
Perez finished third in the stand-alone sprint,
“A really great confidence boost for him. A really strong drive,” said Horner.
While teammate Max Verstappen has dominated the season, securing his third world title in Qatar in October with five rounds to spare and winning 16 of 19 races so far, Perez has scored fewer than half the Dutch driver’s points.
The Mexican is also fighting Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton for second place in the championship.
Horner said he was sure the rumour mill had affected Perez, “but one of his strengths is that he has a very thick skin”.
“Many times he’s picked himself up, brushed himself and got back up again. So hopefully he’s doing the same now,” he added.
Perez’s recent form includes retiring from the Japanese Grand Prix, where he collided with Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, and crashing at the first corner in his home race the previous week.
On Saturday, the 33-year-old dropped from third to fifth on the opening lap but fought back to regain the positions from Mercedes’ George Russell and Hamilton.
“I think he’s focusing more on the basics and I think that’s coming together for him,” Horner said.
It has not been plain sailing for rivals Mercedes as well, with Hamilton saying he was counting down the days to the end of the season so that he can consign his car to history.
The seven-time world champion and his team had arrived in Brazil full of hope after strong performances in the previous two races, but Interlagos delivered a bucket of cold water instead.
“It was horrible. It was not enjoyable whatsoever. I was just fighting the car from very early on,” Hamilton said after finishing the 100km sprint in seventh place, while teammate Russell, the title holder in Brazil, was fourth.
Lewis Hamilton has said he is counting down the days to the end of the Formula One season so that he can consign his car to history.
PHOTO: AFP
Both cars suffered from significant tyre degradation during the race, with Russell ending up 25.8 seconds adrift of Verstappen – a significant margin over a mere 24 laps – and Hamilton 34.7sec off the pace.
Hamilton told reporters the car was suffering understeer and snap oversteer with the tyre performance dropping off, and he expected a long afternoon on Sunday in the grand prix.
“We won’t be winning, that’s for sure. It’s frustrating that the car is the way it is... we have one of the draggiest cars,” he said.
“The last couple of races we’ve been excited that we’re progressing and it’s been really positive to see. But then you come to another track and you have the worst (tyre) deg that you’ve had for ages, so you just don’t know what to expect with this one.
“But only a couple more races with this car and it’s done, so I’ll be happy.” REUTERS
