David Coulthard believes that Sergio Perez became “overconfident” after his race victory in Saudi Arabia.
Perez cruised to the win in Jeddah after team-mate Max Verstappen endured a reliability issue that forced him to line up towards the back of the field.
Verstappen recovered to second place, but Perez’s win saw him close to within one point of the title lead.
But two weeks after the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Perez endured a difficult weekend in Australia as he struggled to get up to speed in practice.
In qualifying, a mistake in Q1 saw the Mexican driver line up at the back of the field, placing his weekend in further jeopardy.
Amid the late-race chaos, Perez recovered to fifth place on the road, while Verstappen took the race win – his second in three races to start the 2023 campaign.
Coulthard believes that Perez’s error during qualifying in Australia was a result of getting too comfortable following his win in Saudi Arabia.
“Free practice off the track, qualifying, bins it on the first lap,” Coulthard said, speaking to Channel 4.
“I think he was overconfident, coming off the back of his victory in Saudi.
“It turns out he braked 20 meters later on that first run than even Max Verstappen, that is a rather optimistic lunge into Turn 3 which took him to the barrier.”
Perez managed to walk away from the grand prix in Melbourne with the fastest lap, securing an extra point in the championship.
After three rounds Perez sits second in the standings, 15 points down on Verstappen.
The 33-year-old has expressed confidence that he can challenge Verstappen for the title this year, despite being consistently outpaced by the Dutchman across the last three seasons.
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