F1
Saturday, July 20, 2024, 6:28 p.m
Author: Strommer Benjamin, photo: Red Bull Content Pool
Until the accident, this was the best weekend of the F1 season, so it is possible to come back from 16th place, Sergio Perez believes. Horner said: there was significant damage to the #11 Red Bull.
Despite the fact that Sergio Perez’s Grand Prix finally got off to a strong start – according to team boss Christian Horner, Friday was his best training day in Mexico since China with Red Bull, which received the development package – based on the time trial, the negative streak continues in the seventh Grand Prix weekend in a row.
His qualification already ended in the Q1 stage with an accident: on the wet track, he drove into the wheel well of turn 8, lost control, and the RB20 was only stopped by the wall. Perez escaped the accident unharmed, but the crash left a mark on his state of mind:
“Obviously, I’m terribly disappointed, as this weekend has been very strong so far. It hurts to let an entire team down. In the end, however, I have never been so determined to get back to where this team belongs,” Perez told reporters at Hungaroringen. Later, the Mexican also added that he is not worried about his future and is only focused on turning his season around.
Perez, who has collected a total of 15 points since Imola, was more concerned with Sunday’s hopes than the qualifying failure: he is building on Friday’s race pace, which he calls the best not only since China, but the entire year.
“Tomorrow is a new opportunity. We will start from the 16th starting position, we will see what we can do from there. It will be a huge job, we have a long race ahead of us, so I have to shut out the external noise and focus only on the work. Yesterday was the best Friday of the season, we are clearly improving. Our time will come. Unfortunately, one case was simply followed by another: I am aware that this needs to be changed quickly.”
Horner: There was quite a bit of damage to the car
The team boss explained the reasons for the accident: the conditions were difficult in the rain, but he pointed out that not only Perez, but also his opponents were driving on a difficult course.
“The good news is that he is okay because it was a big accident. But it’s a huge shame, because yesterday he looked very strong,” said Christian Horner. “Obviously the conditions were tricky, but that’s true for everyone. He just improved his lap time, I think he could see the rain on the visor of his helmet, then he lost the car.”
“Unfortunately, there was quite a lot of damage to the car,” the team boss added, adding that the Red Bull was also significantly damaged – the rear of the racing machine was in ruins, the left rear suspension was broken. For now, we are waiting for news, whether a critical component has been damaged.
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