Red Bull team principal Christian Horner hopes that Sergio Perez’s “confidence” has been boosted after finishing eighth at last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix. Perez qualified in eighth place but started in P11 due to a three-place grid penalty imposed from the Canadian Grand Prix. The Mexican driver made slow progress and finished the race a minute behind Max Verstappen, who won at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Although far behind his teammate, Horner believes that Perez will have positive results from the race in Spain. “Before the race, the simulation said that P8 was optimal from 11th on the grid,” Horner told media outlets including RacingNews365. “So he’s got that. We’ve done it on a three-stop strategy. I think, I expect, that he’ll be pretty confident in that race.

“And hopefully the next few weekends will be big weekends for him.” Recent races ‘difficult’ While Horner expected Perez to receive positive results from the Spanish GP, the racer himself described it as a “nightmare”. The 34-year-old is enduring a similar struggle to the one he went through in 2022 and 2023, two other seasons where, like 2024, he started in good form. With McLaren potentially faster than Red Bull currently, the Milton Keynes-based team needs two talented drivers for the fight for the constructors’ championship.

“We need Checo in the mix, and he knows that and the team knows that,” Horner added. “And if he finishes last in the top eight, you lose strategic options, whether you split your strategy or not and so on.

“Checo in the first four or five races this year has been fantastic, we just need to get him back into that gap.

“I think he’s had a few tough races and things haven’t gone his way and he’s a confident rider.

“I think, hopefully, he’ll get his [confidence back], get back into the points here and drive a decent race.”