Before the start of the season, Sergio Perez set a tall target for himself- win the 2023 championship. He got off to a great start after winning 2 of the first 4 races. Somehow, the progress came to an agonizing halt right there. The win in Baku was his last for the season and Max Verstappen made sure it stayed that way Miami GP onwards. That race, team boss Christian Horner believes delivered a devastating “psychological blow” that Perez struggled to recover from for the rest of the season.
“The first four or five races he was very, very strong,” Motorsport.com recently quoted Horner as saying. “And it was really after Miami that I think that was a big, psychological blow for him – losing that race,” he added.
Perez started the race from the pole position while Verstappen started from P9. As the race progressed, the Dutchman made steady progress while his teammate was struggling to build a gap at the front. The tire strategy ended up working in Verstappen’s favor and he soon overtook Perez to bag home a crucial win. Losing in such a fashion is the “psychological blow” Horner is referring to.
Perez has earned the reputation of acing the street circuits and in the next race, the Monaco GP, could have recuperated him from the previous loss. However, a big shunt into the barriers during the first session of qualifying killed any confidence that was left in the Mexican driver. Since then, he failed to recover from the slump.
He finished the season on 285 points against Verstappen’s 575. The only saving grace was securing the runner-up position in the drivers’ standings against Lewis Hamilton.
Sergio Perez opened up on his mental struggles
Perez played his part flawlessly as a second fiddle to Verstappen until the 2022 season. Had it not been for his dogged defending against Hamilton at the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP, Verstappen could have missed out on his maiden world title in 2021. However, when it came to returning the favor at the 2022 Sao Paulo GP, the Dutchman refused to follow team orders. That gave birth to animosity between the Red Bull teammates. Perez vowed to dethrone his partner and win the 2023 world championship. The ambition, however, ended up putting him under immense pressure, which proved counter-productive.
The resultant failure evoked sharp criticism from the media and experts alike. As his form and confidence continued to plunder, the criticism, sometimes too harsh, kept piling on. That put Perez under a great deal of stress.
In an interview with De Limburger, in September last year, Perez revealed, “Formula 1 is my sport, my life, my passion. But when you are having such a hard time at work, it is difficult to be cheerful at home with your wife and children. That’s why I hired a mental coach because my family deserves to have that cheerful father at home.”
Checo’s contract with Red Bull will end after the 2024 season. In order to sign an extension and keep competition from the likes of Daniel Ricciardo away, he will have to prove his worth. All that amid speculations that Red Bull builds the car around Verstappen and his driving style.
