Christian Horner (the team principal of Red Bull) discussed Sergio Perez's performance following the ninth round of the season at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Coming out of Monaco, Perez was surely hoping to end his unlucky streak in Canada as he also signed a contract extension with Red Bull Racing in the meantime.
However, the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix went almost as bad as the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix. Firstly, the Mexican driver didn't make it out of Q1 (this is the third weekend in a row that he has not qualified inside the top ten).
Secondly, Checo crashed his car on lap 52 (out of 70), which meant he had to retire it. Lastly, he didn't want to trigger a safety car that could harm his teammate, so he drove all the way to the pit lane with a damaged car.
He left a lot of debris on the track and, as a result, received a three-place grid penalty going into the next race- the Spanish Grand Prix. His team principal, Christian Horner told Sky Sports after the race:
"It was a horrible weekend for Checo, and obviously, we picked up some damage. He'll need to come back strong in Barcelona."
"Thankfully, Ferrari had a shocker and didn't get any points so that let us off the hook somewhat, but we need both cars scoring. We got away with it today but we need Checo back up there where he was at the beginning of the year from Barcelona onwards."
Red Bull could have been in much bigger trouble if the two Ferraris hadn't had the worst weekend of the season in Canada. However, the Austrian team needs their 34-year-old driver to score much better.
Perez is currently fifth in the Championship, and in the last three race weekends, he scored four points. In comparison, Max Verstappen scored 58 points. Horner added:
"What we see with Checo time and time again is that when you think he's on the ropes, he bounces back. He's a tough racer, and he's a tough character, and it hurts him more than anybody else."
"He'll be determined to come back and show everybody the form we know he's capable of and that he showed in the first four races of this year."
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