After 10 Grand Prix weekends, the pressure is beginning to grow on every driver with their position in the pecking order established and rivals they’ve either got to catch up to or defeat over the coming races.
Even the likes of Max Verstappen will know that he’s got work to do as McLaren appear to have a car at the same level as Red Bull this year.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, former F1 mechanic and pundit Marc Priestley was talking about another driver who is in a really difficult position.
For some drivers, every session is an opportunity to prove that they deserve a new contract for next season with a lot of uncertainty on how the grid is going to look in 2025.
However, Priestley believes that one driver who recently had his future decided – Sergio Perez – is currently suffering psychologically given the stress he’s under at Red Bull.
The 39-podium driver had another disappointing weekend at the Spanish Grand Prix, narrowly finishing ahead of both Alpine cars and nearly a minute behind his teammate.
His weekend got off to the worst possible start having already picked up a grid penalty and another frustrating performance in qualifying hampered his chances of securing a respectable result.
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Marc Priestley thinks Red Bull star Sergio Perez is suffering psychologically
Talking about Red Bull’s approach, Priestley said: “Maybe that’s the way Red Bull are thinking about this, they don’t need to put too much pressure and too much consideration into Sergio Perez and they can literally put all of their eggs in one basket and hope that Max Verstappen will be enough to bring them both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ world titles.
“But a difficult weekend again for Sergio, it’s not looking good for him and psychologically he will be suffering massively off the back of another poor weekend when all of the questions like the ones that I’m just posing right here, start to be centred around his performances despite getting himself a new contract, strange one.”
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What went wrong for Sergio Perez in Spain?
Heading into the race weekend in Barcelona, Perez already knew he was on the back foot.
His mistake in Canada saw him hit the barriers and while he managed to get back to the pits – under the instruction of Red Bull to avoid a safety car coming out and ruining his teammate’s race – they retired the car allowing his rivals once again close the gap to him in the Drivers’ Championship.
Danica Patrick admitted in Spain that Perez needs to do better at the start of a race weekend to be in a position in qualifying and the race to compete at the sharp end of the grid.
His performance on Saturday wasn’t good enough especially knowing he already had a grid penalty and he didn’t appear to ever make much ground on Oscar Piastri who was having a difficult weekend of his own.
Damon Hill suggested that Perez was ‘nowhere near’ good enough at the Spanish Grand Prix and worried about the impact it might have on Red Bull.
Christian Horner’s outfit are prepared to take unprecedented steps to improve the car and establish a gap over their rivals for the rest of the campaign.
It’s exactly what Perez needs to take the pressure off and alleviate some of the psychological pressure he’s currently under.
The post ‘Not looking good’: Marc Priestley suggests 39-podium F1 driver is now ‘suffering massively’ psychologically appeared first on F1 Oversteer.