Adam Cooper F1

Sergio Perez has been a focus of attention in recent weeks

Sergio Perez admits that he hasn’t been performing “at my 100%” but he is adamant that he will “ride the rollercoaster” amid speculation about his future and turn his season around.

The Red Bull driver has had a difficult run in recent weeks, with accidents in Monaco and Canada and a costly spin in Q1 at Silverstone.

Team boss Christian Horner has made it clear that Perez has to raise his game as RBR comes under pressure in the constructors’ championship.

“I haven’t been performing, first of all, at my 100%,” said Perez. “With the circumstances, when you put yourself in difficult positions, I obviously take a lot of responsibility for that.

“Obviously, there has been a lot of circumstances as well, with different sort of races. So I think it’s a little bit of everything. When you are in in this vicious circle, we had a really strong Friday, but then I messed up in Silverstone in qualifying. So that was down to me.

“Then, with the strategy in Silverstone, we just throw the dice and see what happened. It didn’t work for us. But I think the main thing is that I’ve been in this business for too long, and I know that it will only matter when I finish in Abu Dhabi. So let’s ride the roller coaster, and hopefully get back on form very soon.”

Perez admitted that he’s had a difficult time of late.

“I think Imola, Monaco, they’ve all been a little bit too tricky,” he said. “In Montreal we had an issue. We’ve been having a few issues, not a straightforward weekend. Some of them has been just a lack of pace, others, circumstances.

“Not everyone is operating at 100%. Obviously, when you are at Red Bull, everything is more noticeable, but I think my main priority is to get my season back on track. I think there is a long way ahead, and it will only matter where I finish in Abu Dhabi.”

He added: “Last year when we upgraded the car it went a little bit out of my hands, I think this weekend there have been a couple of issues. We haven’t had a straightforward weekend.

“There have been different issues every weekend. So we just keep learning from every weekend. We’ve been on really good form just few races ago. So I just believe that it’s just a matter of putting everything together on the weekends to get back to the form we had early, which is the main priority.”

Speculation in the paddock has suggested that Perez faces a summer break deadline that will allow the team to assess his performance relatively to team mate Max Verstappen, and potentially make a change.

After the Silverstone race he acknowledged that the next two races were “important,” but when asked by this writer if that comment hinted at a potential deadline he denied that was the case.

“There’s nothing related to that,” he said. “Obviously, I cannot talk about my contract, but it’s nothing related to that. What I said is that the next two races are very important for me, I want to go on holiday with a good spirit.

“And I think it’s good for my side of the garage to go on a good spirit. I wasn’t talking about anything else, I’m fully focused and fully delivered, and I will be here, and I will be here again next year, and that’s nothing different. I’m just fully committed to myself.”

Regarding Hungary and Belgium he said: “It’s another two races for us that we want to get back to our top form.

“That’s the main priority for me, for the team. I was back in the factory over the week, and that is the main priority for us really, to get back to the form we had a couple of races ago. That’s really it.”

Perez had another frustrating weekend at Silverstone

Sergio Perez admits that his British GP was “just a mess” after a gamble on an early switch to intermediate tyres didn’t pay off for the Red Bull Racing driver.

He was eventually classified 17th after a run that has seen him score just a seventh place and two eighths (plus an eighth in a sprint) over the past six race weekends, putting even more of a focus on recent doubts about his future at RBR.

Perez qualified only 19^th at Silverstone following a spin in Q1, and with little to lose the team opted to give him new PU elements and a pitlane start.

On the hard tyres he had made little progress when he joined Charles Leclerc, Esteban Ocon and Zhou Guanyu in pitting for inters on lap 20 in the first rain shower.

Unfortunately the track dried quickly and Perez lost 10-12 seconds a lap, and by the time the rain returned the tyres were worn out and he had to make a stop for new inters, so he tumbled further down the order.

“We gambled a bit too early,” he said when asked by this writer about the strategy. “And we were out probably for seven laps and completely cooked the intermediate.

“And then when the rain came, there was no tyre left, and it was just a mess overall. Then we boxed again. We were in the middle of the leaders, and it was very difficult to make any progress. Just not an easy afternoon.”

Perez admitted he came close to coming back in for slicks after realising how much the track had dried.

“It was very, very close,” he said. “I think we were just with our calls a couple of laps late, it’s a lot of seconds. But I guess at the same time we had to gamble from the position we were.

“Probably we were looking for a few points or big points, so we gambled it. But there was no luck today at all.

“And it’s good that there is a bit of a break, so that we can step back a bit and regroup as a team.”

Perez said Silverstone did have its positive side ahead of that planned reset.

“I think looking back at it, we had the strongest Friday in a while,” he insisted. “So I think there’s some light out of the tunnel. At the same time, it’s a very disappointing race.

“Other than that, just making sure that we are in the ballpark with the balance, try to make the progression we need for Fridays, and then things will be a lot better.

“I think it’s a good time to have a bit of a break, and get back our form hopefully for Hungary and Belgium, two very important weekends.”

The latter comment hinted that he is under pressure to get results in the last two races before the summer break. However, he says he’s not worried by the ongoing talk about his future at Red Bull.

“I know where I am in terms of contract and that sort of thing,” he said. “But I cannot let it be a distraction.

“I need to focus on the next two weekends, which are the priority, and together with the team, as a team, to get out of this difficult period.”

Leclerc has had two disastrous tyre calls in the past four races

Charles Leclerc says his recent run of misfortune has been “worse than a nightmare” after the Ferrari Formula 1 star finished out of the points at Silverstone.

Having qualified only 11^th Leclerc gained three places at the start. However, he was one of four drivers to make an early stop for intermediates only for the track to dry and his tyres to be worn out by the time the rain returned.

He tumbled down the order and eventually finished a frustrated 14th, his third non-score in the four races since his memorable Monaco win.

The Silverstone disaster followed an engine-related retirement in Canada after similarly disastrous call for slicks in the wet.

He earned a modest fifth place in Spain, and was then 11^th in Austria after first lap wing damage led to a first lap stop. Two points for seventh in the Spielberg sprint was little consolation.

“It was clearly the wrong one,” he said when I asked about the Silverstone strategy choice. “I’ll look back into it, obviously. With the decision, with the message I got and the information I had in the car, I felt like it was the right one.

“It was raining quite in Turn 15, I was told that in this lap the rain was going to be very heavy, so I stopped to try and anticipate. However, the rain came eight or nine laps later.

“So that was obviously the end of our race from that moment onwards. Very frustrating, another weekend to forget, and it starts to be a lot.”

Regarding his recent run of misfortune he said: “It’s very hard, it’s very hard. I mean, I don’t really have the words to explain it, but it’s been four races that it’s been worse than a nightmare. So I hope we can come back soon.”

“It’s very difficult to look at positives in days like this. I just want to go back with the team, and we will analyse the way we are making those decisions on my side, and why we were on the wrong side today.”

Ferrari’s Silverstone form was not helped by the choice to go back to the Imola aero spec after the newer floor promoted bouncing at high speed.

“It’s a tricky situation that we are in at the moment,” said Leclerc. “The upgrade brought us the numbers that we were expecting, but also brought us quite a lot of bouncing in the high-speed. And for a track like this we decided that it was probably better having a bit less performance, but having more the consistency.

“And I think that was the right choice. Going forward, we’ll analyse all the data we had until now with the two packages, and try to understand if there’s anything we didn’t understand yet with the new one.”

Leclerc conceded that the more recent update might work in Hungary, where there are few fast corners.

“Yeah, it’s a very different layout. That’s why I think we still have to assess all the information we’ve got on this new package and old package, and take the right decision, as it might not be the same as here. And yeah, we’ll look into it.”

Hulkenberg will start in an impressive sixth place at Silverstone

Nico Hulkenberg says that the updated floor package introduced for Silverstone was key to his impressive sixth place on the grid for Sunday’s British GP.

The German was late out in Q1 and after the red flag only just made it through in 15^th place.

Eighth in Q2 hinted at some potential and he went two places better when it mattered in Q3, noting that it was “quite amazing” that he had outqualified both works Ferraris.

The performance comes on the heels of his sixth place finish in Austria last weekend.

“Yesterday morning in P1 I drove the old car, and then for P2 we translated or transformed the car to the new spec with the updates,” he said.

“And immediately I felt a benefit and positive in some areas, just more downforce, more balanced, better characteristics. So that was very, very pleasant, very positive for us, and we managed to translate that into a good result today.”

Hulkenberg admitted that getting out of Q1 was a bit tight.

“In Q1 it was a little bit too close for comfort,” he said. “We were late because we thought that it will dry out, but it took longer than expected, and then the red flag obviously kind of put us a little bit up against it.

“I only had one lap, and just made it through, I think, in the last spot in P15. So that was a bit lucky, but afterwards, just good execution, good laps, and obviously happy.

“The red flag with Checo [Perez], and our timing, I think we got a little out of synch from everyone else, that was a bit sketchy, but otherwise a good, clean session.”

The German confident that he can finish inside the top 10 on Sunday: “I think in the points for sure,” he said. “Of course, there’s some fast cars behind us, like the Ferraris. Everyone else who is behind we can fight, apart from the top four teams. So that definitely the aim and target for tomorrow.

“We have two Ferraris starting behind us, which is quite amazing that we managed to beat them over one lap. But I think in a race, there’s no holding them back.

“But everyone else, the Astons, and Albon is there, and then all the other midfield teams, I think we can definitely fight. I think we’ve proven that now over several occasions, and that’s what we’re also going to do.”

Hulkenberg says he’s personally on good form after the solid result in Austria.

“To be honest, I feel a lot and good confidence. So that allows me to produce the laps, even if I just have one, they come, they come out pretty well, which is obviously good.

“I enjoy that feeling. I always try to hold on to it for as long as possible. I know it’s not always like that, so you have to use it while it lasts!”

He’s confident that he can finish in the top 10 on Sunday: “I think in the points for sure,” he said. “Of course, there’s some fast cars behind us, like the Ferraris. Everyone else who is behind we can fight, apart from the top four teams. So that definitely the aim and target for tomorrow.

“We have two Ferraris starting behind us, which is quite amazing that we managed to beat them over one lap. But I think in a race, there’s no holding them back.

“But everyone else, the Astons, and Albon is there, and then all the other midfield teams, I think we can definitely fight. I think we’ve proven that now over several occasions, and that’s what we’re also going to do.”

Hulkenberg’s team mate Kevin Magnussen had to switch back to the older floor on Saturday, and will start 17th.