Amidst Pulsating Criticism, Red Bull Boss Reckons Sergio Perez Sent the Team ‘Don’t Write Me Off’ Message With P3 Finish

Sergio Perez has been going through a bit of a tough time after he failed to reach Q3 for five races in a row from Monaco to Silverstone. However, he ended the streak this weekend at the Hungarian GP and on top of that managed to make his way from P9 to P3 during the race. Following a strong Sunday outing, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was very evidently impressed and said that it was almost as if Perez was trying to tell people not to write him off.

After a decent start to the 2023 season, Perez entered a rough patch that began in Monaco. Verstappen had claimed pole position in each of the five races that Perez failed to reach in Q3. The disappointing results led to widespread speculations about the Mexican driver’s future in Red Bull.

Amidst all the speculations and rumors, the onus was on Perez to put in a performance worthy of praise, and he did. Following the Hungarian GP, Perez commented that he hopes to be on the podium in the following races as well. Horner was pretty impressed by the confidence of the Red Bull driver on the track and showered praises on him after the race.

Sergio Perez was ‘on fire’ according to Christian Horner

Talking to Sky Sports F1 after the race, Horner spoke about how impressed he was with Perez’s race. Horner pointed out how brave Sergio Perez was while overtaking. He mentioned that Perez was ‘on fire‘ due to the way he overtook the likes of Fernando Alonso and Oscar Piastri.

Horner stated, “A race like that only gives you a huge amount of confidence. For me, that was a statement drive to say ‘Don’t write me off’.” Horner also appreciated the strategy that Perez was on during the race.

The 33-year-old started the race down in P9 but immediately managed to get up to P8 after Zhou Guanyu had a terrible start. Perez then set off after Alonso and after tailing the Aston Martin for two laps, managed to overtake him in lap 8.

Perez then overtook Carlos Sainz into turn 1 of lap 27, taking himself up to P6. On the next lap, he put his car side by side with Russell’s and overtook him around the outside of turn 3 with a brilliant move. The final victim of the Sergio Perez charge was Piastri, who put up a brilliant fight but had to lose his position on lap 47, while Perez took P3.

Is Perez’s position under threat?

Even after the impressive race, Sergio Perez is a whopping 110 points behind his teammate Max Verstappen, who has won the last 7 races this campaign. Behind him is Alonso, who himself is going through a very rough patch.

After having a brilliant start to the season, Aston Martin’s pace has somewhat fallen off. Alonso, who was becoming a regular feature on the podium, has to settle for points in most places now. Behind him is Lewis Hamilton on 133 points. It is Hamilton who is currently a bigger threat to Perez than Alonso.

However, the only driver who has been able to fare well consistently in the last two races is Lando Norris. However, due to a bad start to the season, he is only on 60 points, down in P8. Therefore, Perez’s P2 looks pretty safe as of now, but only if he manages to keep scoring big points.