Red Bull’s Sergio Perez will receive a new Race Engineer temporarily from the Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort onward, with his current Race Engineer Hugh Bird set for paternity leave.
Planet F1 reports that Bird will be in attendance in Zandvoort this weekend, overseeing Richard Wood, who will step up to deputise as Perez’s Race Engineer.
Wood has 11 years of experience within the Red Bull set-up and will temporarily vacate his role as Performance Engineer, with Simulator Performance Engineer Richard Cooke stepping up into Wood’s role.
Wood and Cooke are expected to undertake their temporary roles through the next four Grands Prix, inclusive of F1’s annual night race in Singapore on September 20-22.
Perez is amid a crucial part of his Formula 1 career as he fights to retain his Red Bull seat.
Second place finishes at the season opener in Bahrain, Round 2 at Jeddah and Round 4 in Japan convinced the Red Bull hierarchy to hand the Mexican a multi-year contract extension in June.
However, Perez had been on a dire run of form heading into the summer break, scoring just 28 points across eight races, prompting speculation he could be dropped in favour of RB’s Daniel Ricciardo following the Belgian GP.
Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner and Advisor Helmut Marko instead handed Perez a reprieve, giving him the next run of races to improve.
The Mexican can relax somewhat knowing that two of the next four races come at tracks he is particularly fond of, namely Baku and Singapore, both venues where he has taken to the top step of the podium.
Marko wrote in his regular Speedweek column that “we now have races on the tracks where [Perez] was good last year and we are banking on stability.
“Perez doesn’t have to become faster, but more consistent and, given the alternatives, he is still our best solution.”
To ensure that consistency can be realised, Perez’s new Race and Performance Engineers will be required to hit the ground running at Zandvoort this weekend.
Speaking after securing a front row spot Spa-Francorchamps in July, Perez was keen to note “it’s not like I forgot how to drive you know from five, six races ago.
“With a lot of drivers sometimes you’re not able to maximize the full potential of your car.
“For that reason you end up lacking that let’s say confidence to extract the maximum out of the car you have.”
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