David Coulthard now says 33-year-old driver has ‘serious work to do’ over the winter

Follow us on Google Discover

David Coulthard has admitted that he thinks Red Bull driver Sergio Perez has a lot of work to do over the winter break before the start of next season.

Coulthard was talking to Eddie Jordan on the Formula For Success Podcast.

They were wrapping up the 2023 F1 season and reflecting on each of the 20 drivers that finished the season.

Red Bull were the standout team in Formula 1 this year, breaking record after record across the 22 Grand Prix.

Much of that was down to the domination of Max Verstappen, who was simply untouchable this year.

He won all but three of this year’s races and more than doubled Sergio Perez’s points tally.

After such a promising start to the year, the Mexican driver’s performances dropped off, particularly in qualifying.

Too often he was having to try and make up ground on his teammate in the race rather than challenging from the first lap.

Coulthard has admitted that Perez will have plenty of reflecting to do over the winter to understand his position within the team.

The 33-year-old looked like a championship contender after winning two of the first four races.

By the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, he was simply hoping to hold onto second place with Lewis Hamilton chasing him down in an inferior Mercedes.

Coulthard says Perez has work to do this winter

Speaking about the Mexican driver, Coulthard said: “Checo [Perez] wasn’t as far away from this teammate as some but unfortunately for him of course, when Max [Verstappen] was winning and he’s not finishing second, it really puts a very difficult spotlight on him.

“He’s survived it, but he’s definitely going to in my opinion have to do some serious work over the winter to fully understand or accept the differences between him and Max.

“At the beginning of the year, he was talking about the world championship battles and he was kind of getting his shoulders and his chest out and I suspect part of that was his management team who are not only there to see him try and win Grand Prix but to sell him commercially.

“So, if the message is this guy’s a world champion in waiting then that helps the negotiations.

“I think now they probably need to take a slightly different view which is he is the best partner to a Max, a phenomenon and then you can knuckle down.”

Perez is likely to heed Coulthard’s advice although he like the rest of the grid will need to recoup over the winter as well.

It’s been one of the most intense seasons in F1 history, with back-to-back races in Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi testing every team’s energy levels.

The calendar only becomes more congested next year, pushing the drivers even further.

Perez will understand the pressure he’s under and Red Bull are notoriously ruthless when it comes to their drivers.

If Christian Horner and Helmut Marko believe a better option is available elsewhere, they won’t hesitate to act.