21 July 2023 , 11:38
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Sergio Perez slammed his Red Bull into a tyre wall within minutes of the start of first practice in Budapest on Friday.
The Mexican is under plenty of pressure right now, given his awful run of recent form. He has finished on the podium only once in his last five races – while his Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen is on a six-race winning streak.
And speculation over his future has only increased now that Daniel Ricciardo is back on the grid. The Aussie's return with sister team AlphaTauri puts him in a position to audition for Perez's seat, which Ricciardo has openly said he wants.
So Perez desperately needed a clean weekend at the Hungarian Grand Prix. But only three minutes of the first practice session had gone by before he made another huge mistake.
On his very first lap of the session, he slightly misplaced his car and dipped a wheel onto the grass at the side of the track. And that was enough to send the Red Bull into a spin.
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It slammed into a tyre wall, creating a lot of work for the team's mechanics to do to fix the car. But the most damage may have been done to Perez's already fragile confidence – evidenced by his short radio message after the crash.
"I cannot believe this," he said to his race engineer, clearly emotional about yet another costly error. He went back onto the airwaves shortly afterwards to add: "I clipped the grass, I think, on braking – I just lost it."
TV cameras cut to the Red Bull pit wall moments after the smash to show veteran team adviser Helmut Marko looking decidedly unimpressed. And team principal Christian Horner will also not have been happy to see one of his RB19s embedded into a tyre wall.
Horner said of the damage done: "It's frustrating to have had that off. We haven't got the car back yet but hopefully it's contained to the front right corner, which will hopefully be repairable in time for the next session.
"It's unfortunate. He just put a wheel on the grass and made a mistake into Turn 5. I haven't had a chance to speak to him yet – I will do after the session – but hopefully he won't have lost too much through this session."
One the eve of this weekend's action, regarding Ricciardo's F1 return and its implications for his future, Perez had told reporters: "From my side, it doesn't change anything. I drive for Red Bull, there's not just Daniel, there's Yuki [Tsunoda] and there is more than half of the grid who will love to drive for Red Bull so it doesn't change anything."
Sergio Perez is under intense pressure and this crash will not have helped (Hasan Bratic/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)However, former Red Bull junior Jaime Alguersuari believes the team has been provided with more than enough reason to axe the Mexican if they want to. The Spaniard said: "We have to be clear that Checo was never in the junior team. If he was, considering how Helmut Marko judges drivers, he would not have lasted a year.
"You have a winning car and have to use it. I know people will think, 'What are you saying, your best place was seventh?' I didn't have a chance to drive a winning car and I'm just saying your first rival is your team-mate. It's not acceptable that Perez is always half a second or seven tenths slower.
"If your team-mate is winning all the races, you have to at least be on the podium, not on your best day being on the podium. You have to be closer otherwise they have the right to replace you. There are many drivers on the grid that could definitely be much closer to Max."
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