Christian Horner Suggests ‘Pressure Is Off’ Sergio Perez After Seeing Max Verstappen Crush His Championship Dreams

Max Verstappen seems to be moving from strength to strength as he made it three consecutive victories by registering an emphatic grand slam last weekend in Spain. Looking at the Dutchman’s form, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has suggested that Sergio Perez can perhaps relax now after seeing his championship dream fall further away.

The Mexican has had a horrible run recently as he has failed to finish on the podium for the last two races. Because of this contrasting run, Perez has seen the gap between him and Verstappen increase from six points to 53 in just the last three races.

Christian Horner believes Sergio Perez pushed himself too hard

When asked if Sergio Perez perhaps pushed himself too hard to match Max Verstappen this season, Christian Horner replied (as quoted by racefans.net), “I think so“. The 49-year-old then added that the Mexican can perhaps now relax after seeing the gap increase significantly in recent races.

“Looking at the gap now between the two drivers, which is pretty significant, in many respects that will take pressure off his shoulders. And I think that’ll allow him just to now relax, not put pressure on himself and just re-find the form that he had in those early races,” explained Horner.

The Red Bull team principal ended his remarks by stating that the side still have faith in Perez. He added that the team knows “what Checo is capable of” and that the 33-year-old just needs to rediscover his form now.

“It is what it is“: Perez low on confidence after poor run

Because of Sergio Perez‘s poor run recently, the Mexican seemed low on confidence after this past weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix. While giving his thoughts on the race, Perez said (as quoted by f1.com) that “it is what it is” before stating that he is now looking forward to bouncing back to the top in Montreal now.

I definitely expected more from this weekend, I think the podium was possible, but it was important to secure the points and not to take more risks.
Now is time to rest a bit and focus everything on Canada.

Sin duda esperaba más de este fin de semana, creo que el podio era… pic.twitter.com/5ljhqqdFNg

— Sergio Pérez (@SChecoPerez) June 4, 2023

The 33-year-old pointed out how his horrible qualifying in Spain once again cost him a good points-scoring finish. The Red Bull driver had another disappointing qualifying as he failed to make it to Q3.

Because of such poor qualifying, it was all about damage limitation for him in the main race. And Perez did a decent job in that aspect at least, as he managed to finish fourth, just behind Max Verstappen and the two Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.