Christian Horner Pinpoints Two 'Mentally Brutal' Races That Broke Perez

Tuesday, 26 December 2023 at 18:00

Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner identified two "mentally brutal" races that determined the outcome of the 2023 Championship for Sergio Perez.

Sergio Perez started the 2023 season quite strong, matching the pace of his teammate Max Verstappen. The Mexican F1 driver won 2 out of the first four races of the season.

However, the fifth race of the year seemed to cause a change in his mindset. Christian Horner believes it was a decisive moment for the 33-year-old driver. He told the media:

"I think there was a decisive moment this year, which is probably in Miami, where Checo had an open goal, he'd won two races in Azerbaijan and in Saudi, and you could see his confidence was high."

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Karun Chandhok lately revealed Verstappen's words after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Apparently, he said he won't get beaten by Perez again this season.

Right following weekend, at the Miami Grand Prix, the triple World Champion got caught out by a red flag in Qualifying and had to start the race eight positions down on his teammate.

If the two teammates were evenly matched, Verstappen shouldn't have caught Perez throughout the race under normal conditions, but he did. What's more, he overtook the Mexican and won the race.

"Max winning that race, having been caught out by a red flag in qualifying and starting down the field, I think mentally that was quite a brutal one for Checo to deal with."

It must have been challenging for Perez because he stated that he planned to fight for the Championship after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, yet he has been slower in Miami.

The sixth race of the season was the Monaco Grand Prix. Perez had to perform perfectly to keep the Championship battle alive, but he crashed in the first part of qualifying.

"And then, on top of that, came Monaco (where Perez crashed in qualifying), which compounded things."

Verstappen stayed true to his words, and Sergio Perez could never beat him again in 2023, maybe even because of these two moments. What do you think?