Sergio Perez has vowed that receiving Red Bull’s new floor design at the next race can be the breakthrough moment that helps overturn his ongoing Formula 1 slump.
Perez endured a tumultuous weekend at Silverstone as a spin into the gravel at Copse and a premature move to Intermediates cost him a chance at recording points.
The Mexican has now accumulated a pitiful 15 points across the last six rounds to heighten speculation over his Red Bull prospects, despite penning a new contract.
However, Perez has remained resolved in his stance that he will get his campaign back on track and he has hinted that Red Bull’s updated floor could boost his hopes.
“I’m just trying to find the solutions, really,” Perez said post-race. “I think we’re making good progress.
“We are just about to unlock a couple of tenths from our side and our life will be very different, back to where we were in the start of the year.”
Max Verstappen used the sole iteration that Red Bull introduced and boss Christian Horner, who described it as “minimal”, confirmed that a second was not available.
“There was only one floor available on one side of the garage this weekend,” he revealed.
Meanwhile, Horner would not be drawn on words from Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko, who suggested the update was estimated to be worth six points of downforce.
“It’s no secret that we have less development time in the others, and we’re at the top of the curve,” he explained. So you’re into diminishing returns.”
Verstappen caused extensive damage to his floor when he also endured a moment on a damp track at Copse in Q1 and ran his RB20 across the gravel trap on the exit.
Horner divulged that Verstappen’s rare mishap “trashed” the new part and caused him to be stunned that the Dutchman managed to go on and seize fourth on the grid.
“So actually the lap time he did in quali, to be as close as he was – if you could see the floor it was like something out of Scrapheap Challenge that the mechanics managed to put back together – it was super-impressive. So his lap time yesterday, to only be a tenth off Lando [Norris], I thought was very encouraging.”
Verstappen’s initial downforce loss was an estimated 100 points, but swift work from the Red Bull crew meant that the damage was mitigated in the remaining stages.
“We managed to recover a reasonable portion of that with the repairs that the mechanics were able to do in between the sessions,” Horner added.
“But of course, it’s not just the load it’s how it then changed your balance.
“So suddenly he’d got no front end, he was having to have a little lift in Copse, whereas it was absolutely flat previously. So it took away that balance.”
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