Sergio Perez crashed during Q1 at the Hungaroring on Saturday, as a result of which he would start Sunday’s race from P16 on the grid. The pressure on him has grown immensely as a result, with the majority of the F1 community convinced that Red Bull should sack him. Nico Rosberg, however, has comforting words for the Mexican driver.
Rosberg, during commentary in FP3 of the Hungarian GP weekend, said,
“It’s really really hard. You go into this big negative spiral. You start to doubt yourself, you have one of the greatest of all time next to you… The media pressure starts as well. In every press conference he’s at, there’s 50 people in front of him, saying ‘So, are they going to kick you out?'”
Nico Rosberg on Checo’s current situation pic.twitter.com/uOni1zecSM
— Cel ⚡️ (@pikachequito) July 20, 2024
Rosberg understands the situation Perez finds himself in, but his comments came during FP3, which was before Qualifying kicked off. He was already under scrutiny heading into the session, but with his crash, things have turned worse for the Guadalajara-born driver.
What happens in the future remains unknown, but Perez has to score big points to ease the pressure on himself. However, starting from P16 at a circuit where overtaking is difficult, chances are that he will leave the Hungaroring disappointed.
Red Bull’s car too, is not as dominant as it once was. McLaren seems like the faster team this weekend, despite the Austrian team bringing in upgrades. Max Verstappen pointed this out, and urged his team to “wake up“.
Red Bull has to “be better”, says Verstappen
Red Bull‘s new upgrades haven’t worked so far, and McLaren’s pace was evident in qualifying with their front-row lockout. Verstappen was not happy with how the car felt, and thinks that for Red Bull to emerge victorious at the end of the season, changes are needed. He said,
“I think maybe some people need to wake up a bit. It’s not all very bad, but if you want to be World Champion it has to be better than this”.
All to play for tomorrow It’s P3 for Max in Qualifying
Checo finishes the session in P16.
Result NOR, PIA, Max P3 , SAI, HAM, LEC, ALO, STR, RIC, TSU#F1 || #HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/OrATQFTcXJ
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) July 20, 2024
On the other hand, Verstappen fared much better than Perez. He finished just half-a-tenth of a second behind pole-sitter Lando Norris and will start the Hungarian GP from P3. While the Dutchman has a tricky task to beat both McLaren cars, he will back himself to outdrive the car and pull off a mega result once again.
