Sergio Perez’s performance in the 2023 season has been below expectations since the Monaco Grand Prix, as with the best car on the grid, the Mexican has managed just two podium finishes in the last six races, one of them at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
After starting ninth, the Jalisco native managed to take third place at the Hungaroring. In his position within Red Bull, Perez has a few factors that put him under pressure, firstly, having a two-time world champion as a team-mate who is 110 points ahead of you is not easy and recently, we must add the return of Daniel Ricciardo to the Austrian team’s sister team, Alpha Tauri,
This action has been interpreted by many as a threat to the driver of car number 11 on the grid, in which the Milton Keynes team could be evaluating the performance of the Australian to return to be Max Verstappen’s teammate, however, it has been made clear that the Mexican’s contract is until 2024 and that the team supports him.
Photo credit: Red Bull Content Pool
After moving up six positions on Sunday, Christian Horner felt that “Checo Perez” had an excellent race:
“His recovery, his overtaking was brave,” said Horner.
“His pace was fast, the way he made the places, passing cars, passing Fernando [Alonso], passing [Oscar] Piastri; the strategy that he had, he was on fire today.
“A race like that only gives you a huge amount of confidence.
“I think his overtaking, the bravery that he showed, for me that was really a statement drive today to say ‘look, don’t write me off’.”
This weekend, as well as achieving their 250th top-flight podium, the Bulls broke McLaren’s record of 11 wins in a row, a record that had not been broken since 1988.
The Englishman pointed to this as something very special for him: “As a young kid I remember watching the McLarens of Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna achieving that incredible feat, to think we’ve now bettered that…”
“They were an incredible team, Ron Dennis was an incredible team principal, and to think that we’ve now bettered that is something the whole team here in Budapest, in Milton Keynes, everybody behind the scenes has worked so hard for and will mean so, so much.”
Red Bull has won every race this season, (ten with Verstappen and two with Perez). Whether any other team can win a race this season remains to be seen, however, from what we have seen so far, this is unlikely.
