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Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner has revealed what he and the team need from Sergio Perez to succeed in order to curtail McLaren’s hopes of a championship fight.�
Perez has had a very challenging 2024 campaign so far. At this point last year, Checo was second in the Drivers’ Championship, having won two races already.
However, fast forward to now and he currently finds himself in seventh place in the standings, 146 points behind his team-mate Max Verstappen and having only picked up four podiums in 14 rounds for Red Bull this season.
This has led to many people questioning whether the Mexican should keep his seat the Milton Keynes team. Despite these opinions, Horner revealed recently that Perez will remain at Red Bull.
The Austrian outfit have dominated the current era of regulation changes. However, this season has brought about some car issues for the team that have hindered their campaign.
Going into the summer break, the reigning champions find themselves in a bit of a drought, having not won a race since the Spanish Grand Prix. This has allowed McLaren reduce the gap in the championship from 115 points to just 42.
With pressure on Red Bull and in particular Perez to perform, Horner has identified a key attribute that he needs from the Mexican driver in order to hold off McLaren’s fight in the Constructors’ Championship.
Perez needs his “winning mindset” to return
As reported by racingnews365.com, Horner mentioned that Perez needs a “winning mindset” prior to the Belgian Grand Prix.
Ahead of the race in Spa, Red Bull’s Team Principal spoke to Sky Sports F1 and was asked about Perez’s possible chances of winning after starting on the front row, to which Horner replied: “He needs that mindset – I’m glad he’s in that mindset… We need to start adding points to the constructors’ championship.”
Despite Perez ending up finishing P7 in Belgium after having another disappointing race, Horner still believes that his driver has the strength to bounce back from the adversity that he has faced in recent months.
“We’ve seen him bounce back so many times when he’s been on the ropes… He has this remarkable ability, when you think he’s absolutely down and out he’s like a weeble, he just bounces back,” Horner explained.
“He’s got tremendous strength when he’s got his back to the wall. And I think that he’s in that situation now.”
Feature Image Credit: (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)