Team boss unimpressed with 33-year-old F1 driver after outing in Suzuka

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Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner has admitted that Sergio Perez had a weekend to forget in Suzuka.

Horner was speaking to the F1 Nation Podcast after a Sunday full of celebrations for the Milton Keynes-based team.

After a disappointing race in Singapore, Red Bull returned to winning ways in Japan.

Max Verstappen produced an incredible lap in qualifying to take pole position, with Sergio Perez starting in fifth.

The Dutch driver did well to resist pressure from both McLarens going into the first corner and drove into the distance from there.

Perez would have been disappointed not to join his teammate on the front row and was pegged back even further after suffering damage following an incident with Lewis Hamilton.

Things went from bad to worse for the Mexican as he eventually was forced to retire from the race.

Horner admitted it had been a bad weekend for Perez at Suzuka but backed him to bounce back in Qatar.

He’s now the only person who can stop Verstappen from winning another Drivers’ Championship, but it would take an incredible set of circumstances to do so.

Horner gives verdict on Perez race at Suzuka

Asked about the 33-year-old’s outing on Sunday, Horner said: “Checo [Perez], he’ll bounce back after a weekend.

“He had a horrible weekend, or a horrible race today but he’ll bounce back I’m sure.

“I think after he got concertinaed at the start then he got nicked for overtaking Fernando [Alonso] into the pit lane and his whole race was unravelling from there.

“The move on Kevin [Magnussen] was a little optimistic. The only good thing for Checo was that we managed to serve the penalty here.

“The mechanics did a great job getting the car repaired so that he could serve the five-second penalty here and not have the potential of it being rolled forward into the next round.”

Perez has admitted in recent weeks it hasn’t been easy to see what Verstappen has been doing at Red Bull this season.

However, performances like the one Perez put in at Suzuka won’t do him any favours with Horner or the rest of the team’s hierarchy.

He’s contracted for 2024 but it wouldn’t be a surprise for speculation surrounding his future to increase unless his results improve next year.