Christian Horner issues scathing verdict after Sergio Perez causes him more headaches

Christian Horner suggested that Red Bull are 'walking one-legged' as Sergio Perez continues to struggle for form. The Red Bull driver crashed during Q1 at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Saturday.

The 34-year-old arrived in Budapest with the spotlight shining down on him following a miserable stretch of performances. Checo had failed to finish higher than seventh place in a six-race span, finishing outside of the top 10 on three occasions.

Such underwhelming performances have sparked conversations about his future, and heading into the weekend the instructions from Red Bull were clear: Perez has two races to save his seat.

It was, therefore, far from ideal when with seven minutes left on the clock in Q1, the red flag waved and the cameras panned to the #11 Red Bull car in the barriers at Turn Eight. That result means Perez will start from P16 at the Hungaroring on Sunday.

Speaking to Viaplay about his driver's struggles, Horner said: "These kinds of discussions should happen internally, and not through the media, but it is clear that we cannot keep walking one-legged."

For his part, Perez didn't shy away from his responsibility. "I'm obviously very disappointed because the weekend has been really strong up to now," he told Sky Sports F1.

"It hurts to let your whole team down, but at the end of the day, I'm determined more than ever to get back where we belong as a team. Tomorrow is another opportunity. We are starting 15th so let's see what we are able to do from there.

"It's a massive job tomorrow. There's a long race ahead of us, so I think I just have to shut the external noise down and focus on the job.

"Yesterday was the best Friday of the season, so we are definitely making progress. Our time will come. Unfortunately, it's just one after the other. I'm conscious of that and it's something we need to change quickly."