Christian Horner reflected on Sergio Perez’s disappointing performance in the Austrian Grand Prix due to severe damage to his RB20. Perez and Horner had a challenging race, finishing in seventh place. Perez was involved in a battle with a Haas driver, which resulted in a large hole in his sidepod. This had a negative impact on Perez’s speed and he was overtaken by Hulkenberg at the Red Bull Ring.
The team boss found it difficult to evaluate Perez’s performance in the recent race due to extensive damage to his car. On the first lap, Perez’s car was involved in a major collision that caused a large hole in the sidepod. This damage significantly affected the car’s aerodynamics and reduced its speed on the straight sections of the track. Horner compared this situation to having an aerodynamic brake, which made it challenging for Perez to keep up with his competitors.
In addition, Horner explained that judging Perez’s performance was challenging due to the large hole in the car. The damage resulted in a noticeable decrease in the car’s straight-line speed, making it difficult for Perez to compete effectively. Although Horner did not specify the exact impact on the time, the data clearly showed a drop in performance due to the large hole in the sidepod. This hindered Perez’s ability to race at his usual pace.
Perez reflected on his performance in qualifying and believed that the car had the potential for better speed than he was able to demonstrate. He mentioned that during qualifying, he struggled to find the right balance with the car from the start. This issue led to excessive tire wear, which negatively affected his overall performance. Despite these challenges, Perez remained optimistic about the capabilities of the car and believed that he could achieve higher speeds than those seen in qualifying.
Perez felt that the car had more speed than was evident during the qualifying session. He believed that his pace could have been better. He also mentioned that, although the race pace was uncertain, significant improvements had been made to the car. These improvements gave him confidence that the car could perform better in the race, even if this improvement was not fully reflected in the qualifying results.
Arguably, Sergio Perez faced difficulties in finding the right balance with the car during qualifying. However, he showed improved pace and had confidence in the improvements made to the car, despite the uncertainty regarding the race pace.
