Horner hails Perez for ‘don’t write me off’ drive

Crimson Bull boss Christian Horner heaped reward on Sergio Perez on Sunday after the Mexican raced from ninth to 3rd at a Hungarian Grand Prix that delivered his Formulation One workforce a report twelfth win in a row.

The rostrum was Perez’s sixth from 11 racesa tally that compares poorly to successful teammate and world championship chief Max Verstappen’s 9 victories and two second locations.

The Mexican stays second total however now a mighty 110 factors behind Verstappen and with Australian Daniel Ricciardo shifting onto the scene at AlphaTauri as a doable future substitute.

Perez wanted to supply a confidence-restoring efficiency on the Hungaring and, after pricey latest errors, he delivered.

“I believe he drove a fantastic race as we speak,” Horner mentioned. “His restoration, his overtaking was courageous, his tempo was quick. The best way he made the locations — passing Carlos [Sainz]passing Fernando [Alonso]passing [Oscar] Piastri, the technique that he had. He was on hearth as we speak.

“A race like that solely provides you an enormous quantity of confidence. His overtaking, the bravery that he confirmed, For me that was actually a press release drive as we speak to say ‘Look, do not write me off’, and I believe this may give him a variety of confidence.”

Perez agreed it had been a powerful end result at a monitor that isn’t simple to overhaul on.

“I believe this kind of efficiency, [these] kind of days, do assist. Any further I simply stay up for principally be on the rostrum each single weekend,” he mentioned.

The Mexican had arrived in Budapest with loads of strain and made the worst doable begin by crashing in Friday’s opening apply after which ruining a set of tyres with a flat spot within the second session.

Ninth on the beginning grid was an enchancment on latest races however nonetheless a good distance from double world champion Verstappen who certified on the entrance row and missed pole by simply 0.003 of a second.

“He is in such a tough, darkish place, shedding momentum and struggling from race to race,” retired 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg had noticed of Perez on Saturday in his function of Sky Sports activities tv pundit.

“And on prime of that within the subsequent storage, on the Crimson Bull junior workforce, they put in Daniel Ricciardo they usually say publicly he is able to go and he is able to take his place sort of factor. The strain is maximised.”