Perez’s mentality questioned as ‘external pressures’ mount

The under-pressure Red Bull driver crashed out at Turn 1 after launching a risky and failed bid to snatch the lead of his home race on the opening lap of Sunday’s grand prix. 

Perez attempted to sweep around the outside of Charles Leclerc and Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen but ended up tangling with Leclerc’s Ferrari, sending him airborne and out of the race. 

Although Sky F1’s Craig Slater downplayed the significance of the Mexican’s mistake, given the championship is already settled, he suggested Perez was in a “lose-lose” situation.

“It would have been worse had he done it earlier in the season and kind of got himself out of championship contention,” Slater said on the Sky Sports F1 podcast.  

"Did he have a lot to lose? Well there’s the seat aspect and that’s another aspect. Does what happens there actually materially affect his prospects of continuing in that race car next year. But in terms of title terms, that had already gone. 

“He thought he could have finished on the podium, given the pace he exhibited, particularly in qualifying. It was the closest he’d been to Verstappen for quite a while wasn’t it. So in a way he threw away that good result. 

“And the other aspect to it, is that it’s all happened alongside Daniel Ricciardo out-driving the AlphaTauri, getting ahead of him [Perez] in qualifying and doing so well in the race. It was a lose-lose situation.

“But the fact that Lewis Hamilton understood the mentality in the cool down room, to me that showed that it wasn’t so crazy as it first appeared. The consequences were pretty bad, but you can understand the mentality still. And he has got races left to make up for it.” 

With the pressure mounting on Perez to keep his Red Bull seat for 2024, Slater went on to question: “Has he morphed as a driver into a different mentality? 

“It’s so uncharacteristic of him to do what he did that you do wonder about his headspace, has he lost the essential Perez DNA? 

“Is he not really playing to his strengths right now, because of the external pressures on him. And that was a glaring example of it.”

And Slater believes Daniel Ricciardo’s impressive performance in Mexico gives Red Bull “ammunition” if they choose to promote the Australian into Perez’s seat for 2024. 

“If they wanted an excuse, if they are indeed lining up Ricciardo, or they are coming around to a way of thinking that Ricciardo is the preferred option in the car, it gives them the ammunition to present it as a kind of a reasonable action to take if he doesn’t get that second spot,” he added.