Red Bull is in the penultimate race of the season in Saudi Arabia with just five points behind Mercedes at the top of the constructors ‘championship, while Max Verstappen is eight points ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the drivers’ championship.
It gave the team a chance to win their first title since 2013, but Perez struggled to keep up with Verstappen or Mercedes drivers Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas during Friday practice sessions in Jeddah.
Perez finished FP1 more than a second behind Verstappen, finished 11th and was more than half a second behind in FP2.
Red Bull team principal Horner said at Sky Sports F1 after FP2 in Jeddah that there weren’t any major issues that caused Perez to lose the pace, but he was confident he was slowly building his confidence.
“Sergio, he’s a slow starter but he’s picking up speed and you can see he’s building, building, building,” said Horner.
“He’s a crafty old fox. He knows that he doesn’t have to take big risks too early on a street circuit. And I think he has always done well on tracks like Sochi, Azerbaijan and Monaco.
“I have no doubt he’s building these foundations.”
Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB16B
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Bottas and Perez will play a key role not only in the hopes of the constructors of their respective teams, but also in the drivers’ battle for the championship to support their teammates.
Horner said Red Bull “are doing our best to support”. [Perez] as best we can, ”he noted on his recent form surge, where he was on the podium in Austin and Mexico City.
“He found a lot from the last few races, he qualified well, drove well,” said Horner.
“We need that. We desperately need him to be in this fight in these two remaining races.
“Because with two cars, as you saw when we had two in the game, you have different options.
“And we want to make sure that we have both cars in play and not just one.”
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B, Mick Schumacher, Haas VF-21, Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri AT02
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
Perez noticed after FP2 that the traffic had made it difficult to get a completely clean lap. Several drivers had to stop their laps on Friday after being hit by traffic.
“It will be tricky in qualifying, and traffic management will also be tricky [be about] trying to be in the right place, ”said Perez.
“I think we saw that it can get very tricky and very messy in the end when everyone is on the soft tire in the end.
“Then in the long run we didn’t have enough laps to get a reading.”
Perez added: “I think there is still a lot to come tomorrow. Hopefully we can find the right balance and pace tomorrow to compete.”
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