Helmut Marko books flight to London for Christian Horner showdown talks at Red Bull HQ
Helmut Marko will meet up with Christian Horner amid a turbulent period for the Red Bull driver.
Helmut Marko has already booked his flight to London as the Red Bull advisor prepares for crunch talks with Christian Horner regarding the future of Sergio Perez.
Heading into the Hungarian Grand Prix, the Mexican driver was given two races to save his seat. He responded to this news by crashing midway through Q1, bringing out the red flag and resigning himself to a P16 starting grid slot.
From there, Perez was able to recover a P7 finish. This was the maximum on offer for the six-time Grand Prix winner given his starting position, but on a weekend when McLaren secured a one-two finish and Max Verstappen finished fifth, Checo’s absence only exacerbated Red Bull’s problems.
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Addressing the next steps for Perez, Marko told ORF: "Perez drove a very good race, and the strategy worked well. We are sticking to our approach. On the Monday after Spa I will fly to England and discuss the procedure with Horner."
The Red Bull team principal was content with his driver’s showing on Sunday. "That was probably Checo's strongest race since China, I would say,” noted Horner. "So, he should take some confidence out of the race. If he had qualified more in position, you could see he would have been in a much more competitive position."
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Dressing down his weekend, Perez acknowledged that his qualifying was less than ideal. "I think I just have to take the positives,” he explained. “We had a very strong Friday, we had a strong race in terms of pace - the pace is there, so that is a positive.
"The rest… I am sure it will take care of itself. It is a matter of time. The most important is that the pace is there, and I really hope that for Belgium, I can be back fighting for the podium."
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Despite a relatively strong showing at the Hungaroring, there will be no time for Perez to rest. His team-mate is notoriously fast at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps and another Q1 exit would leave him with a lot of work to do, given Red Bull are no longer the bona fide fastest team in the sport.
His position is made even more precarious by the form of Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda. While both VCARB drivers had their respective moments to forget in Hungary, their overall pace was strong with only some strategy blunders preventing them from fighting for points.
