Perez needs to do more to regain his form insists Horner

Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner has called for his driver Sergio Perez to re-find his early 2024 form after a recent run of disappointing performances.

Perez’s campaign so far has been a tale of two halves. In the first six races of the season, the Mexican driver did not finish lower than P5 and had secured four podiums along the way.

However, over the past four grand prix’s, Perez’s early season form seems to have stagnated. The Red Bull driver has only managed to score eight points. In comparison to his team-mate Max Verstappen, the Dutchman has scored a total of 83 points over the last four races.

Checo’s slump in form has come at the wrong time after he recently signed a contract extension with the Milton Keynes team that could see him stay with the Austrian outfit until the end of 2026.

Last weekend at the Spanish Grand Prix, Perez could only manage a P8 finish around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya as he finished nearly a minute behind his team-mate, who went on to claim his third consecutive win in Spain.

Perez will need to put in some much-improved performances over the next few races in order to satisfy the expectations of Red Bull Racing’s hierarchy.

Horner needs Checo back in the mix

Speaking to formula1.com after the Spanish Grand Prix, Horner stated that he needs Perez to get back towards the front of the grid, as Red Bull currently find themselves in a closer title fight.

“We need Checo [Perez] in the mix. He knows that and the team know that,” said Horner.

“If he’s on the back end of the top eight, you lose strategic options, whether you split your strategies and so on. Checo in the first four or five races this year was fantastic. We just need to get him back into that headspace.”

“I think that he’s had a couple of difficult races, and things haven’t gone his way,” Horner added.

“He’s a confidence-driven driver I think, and I think that hopefully he’ll have taken some… you know, he’s back in the points here, drove a decent race. Hopefully he’ll take some confidence out of that for the following races.”

“Before the race, our simulations said P8 was the optimum from 11th on the grid, so he achieved that today, he did it on a three-stop strategy.”

“I think, and I hope that, he will take quite a bit of confidence out of that race and hopefully take that into the next couple of weekends, which are big weekends for him.”

Feature Image Credit: (Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images)