Sergio Perez has admitted ahead of this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix that he’s “not fully confident” with his RB19, something which has played a role in his recent struggles.
Perez heads to the Hungaroring in dreadful form, with the Mexican having claimed just one podium in the last five races.
If that wasn’t bad enough, he’s failed to make it into Q3 at any of the previous five events.
The Red Bull driver is enduring a worrying downward spiral, which could potentially put his seat for 2024 at threat if Daniel Ricciardo excels for AlphaTauri in the remainder of the season.
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According to Perez, some of his poor performances have been due to a lack of “trust” in his car, something which was damaged following his crash during Q1 at the Monaco Grand Prix.
“Certainly, when you’re not fully confident with the car,” Perez told Autosport.
“I think what happened in Monaco probably brought me a step back and it has taken me some time to fully trust the car the way I was doing it. And then you add the external factor from the changeable conditions. And then there is a bit more of a discrepancy.”
Changeable conditions have also been noted by Perez as a reason as to why he’s struggled so much recently, due to mixed weather making his issues with the car more apparent.
“The deficit that I’ve been experiencing with the car in the last few races, whenever there is a change of condition, it tends to get wider, this limit, let’s put it that way,” Perez added.
“So that’s been something that has caught us out. I think the last five races really have been some change of conditions in qualifying. So that has really put us on the back foot for it.”
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Whilst Free Practice 1 at the Hungaroring was carried out in mixed conditions, Perez can only blame himself for a costly embarrassing blunder.
Perez crashed heavily at Turn 5 in the opening minutes of FP1, resulting in a red flag.
The front-left of his car was heavily damaged, leaving Red Bull with significant work to do already.