Red Bull needs Sergio Perez to be in contention at the front of the Formula 1 field in order to limit Mercedes’ strategic options, according to team boss Christian Horner.
Perez has had a mixed start to his Red Bull career since joining from Racing Point but endured a troubled time in Spain owing to a shoulder complaint and spin during qualifying.
That left Perez eighth on the grid and effectively out of contention at a circuit where overtaking is limited.
Max Verstappen jumped Lewis Hamilton at the start and the pair ran at such a pace that they effectively only ever had Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas in their pit stop windows.
That facilitated Mercedes in bringing in Hamilton for a second stop, only relinquishing a spot to Bottas, who had cleared prior to overhauling Verstappen for victory.
It continues a theme that has affected Red Bull in recent years.
Pierre Gasly and Alexander Albon were rarely in the lead group during their respective stints alongside Verstappen at Red Bull.
Daniel Ricciardo’s Monaco 2018 victory remains the last on that side of the garage while since that win it has taken only a pair of podiums courtesy of Albon in Italy and Bahrain last year.
“The two lead guys were so far ahead of the rest of the pack as it were, that Lewis had a free stop as he had in Hungary [in 2019], said Horner.
“You know he’s only got to get past his team-mate, and that was never going to be an issue. So that’s why we need both cars up there strategically so that option isn’t available to Mercedes.
“I think it’s coming together for [Perez]. He had an off-day [in qualifying]. He was compromised in the race behind Daniel [Ricciardo], obviously that then, you know, he didn’t manage to make the headway at a track where it is so difficult to pass, because we desperately need him to be in that gap so that the Mercedes don’t have the strategic options that they had.
“And so, I’m convinced that that will come for Checo, as he finds more confidence, and more time in the car.”
Horner was nonetheless encouraged by the performance of Red Bull’s RB16B at a circuit where Mercedes has thrived in recent season.
“I think the Mercedes, we’ve seen it since Bahrain, I think that their race pace has been better than ours at each race that we’ve seen so far, and I think that their degradation, you know, has been better than ours,” he said.
“So we knew these last two circuits would play to their strengths – they done that – but we’re an awful lot closer than we have been.”
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