Red Bull team boss Christian Horner has revealed that he met Mexican driver Sergio Pérez at his home to discuss his worrying recent form in Formula 1.
Perez has had a dismal recent run of results, never finishing higher than seventh in any of the last six races and finishing a dismal 17th at the British Grand Prix two weeks ago.
Horner recently admitted Perez's points drought was “unsustainable” amid growing speculation that Perez's position within the team may be under threat despite his new contract.
It has been reported that if Perez is more than 100 points behind team-mate Max Verstappen at the end of the summer break, a performance clause will be triggered which would allow Red Bull to make a driver change.
Perez is currently 137 points behind Verstappen with two races remaining before F1 enters a mandatory shutdown period in August. He has scored just 15 points in the past six races.
Asked if he had spoken to Perez about his current form, Horner told Sky Sports: “Yes, we have a really open relationship.”
“I sat down with him in my kitchen at home and I said, ‘Hey, what’s going on?’ I said, ‘Is there anything else?’ He said, ‘No, you’re just overthinking it,’” he said.
“I think it will work to his advantage to pretty much ignore what's going on on the other side of the garage, and that's the approach he's taking at the moment – just focus on his own performance.”
Horner explained that Red Bull's decision to renew his contract early was an attempt to “calm down” Perez.
“We're all hoping Checo will fulfil the potential he's shown in the first four or five races and we know he's capable of doing that,” he said.
“That's why we looked at options for next year early and tried to get him settled. He's been a bit confused the last few races and hopefully today was a sign that he's coming out of it.”
“The team is supporting him and working hard to help him get back on track, which is what he really needs.”
Red Bull has rushed to prepare its most significant upgrade package of the season for this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix.
“I think the car is working pretty well and when the car is working well you can see the gap between them closing,” Horner said.
“He is [Perez] That would take a lot of confidence away. The car, while performing well, was a bit dangerous.
“We saw that Max was handling it a little bit better than Checo and we're hoping that because of the steps we've taken here we can get the car in pretty good shape.”
