Red Bull boss Christian Horner has admitted the team requires both drivers “firing on all cylinders” amid Sergio Perez‘s struggles in Formula 1‘s Singapore Grand Prix.
The Mexican appeared to have turned a corner in Azerbaijan as he outclassed Max Verstappen and was on track to bag a podium until a late clash with Carlos Sainz.
However, Perez was unable to replicate Verstappen’s brilliance on the Singapore streets as he was eliminated in Q2 and trailed home in an underwhelming 10th place.
READ MORE: Sergio Perez highlights reasons behind F1 Singapore GP Q2 exit
Perez gained three places at the start to be in his eventual finishing position, but he was unable to overtake Williams rookie Franco Colapinto across the opening stint.
The Red Bull driver relinquished a place to Sainz’s Ferrari through the pit stop phase and he was unable to pass Nico Hulkenberg‘s Haas during the closing exchanges.
“Checo, he was stuck around Hulkenberg for basically 30 laps,” Horner recalled to media including Motorsport Week.
“Yeah, I mean, Checo had a good first lap. He qualified out of position, and then he just really struggled to overtake.
“He was struggling a little for traction in the areas where you want the traction out of Turn 3 and onto the back straight.
“But, yeah, you know, that was what he could manage today.”
Horner calls on Perez to up his game
Verstappen’s second place was not enough to prevent Red Bull from losing ground to McLaren in the Constructors’ Championship as the gap has grown to 41 points.
The Dutchman continues to head the Drivers’ Championship, but Perez’s wretched campaign has positioned the Woking-based squad in pole position to take the title.
With McLaren again getting Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri on the podium, Horner has reiterated that Perez must improve to provide added support to his team-mate.
“I think that we need to have two drivers firing on all cylinders,” he admitted.
“Checo had a good weekend last weekend [in Baku]. He had a tough weekend this weekend.
“We need to put some weekends together where you can see where McLaren are putting two drivers on the podium. It’s those big points that really make a difference.
“So, you know, we need to make sure that Checo goes as far off the field as we can get it, in terms of finding the right direction.”
Perez criticises Red Bull’s strategy
Perez, though, has argued that Red Bull could have been sharper on the pit wall and used an aggressive strategy as Ferrari did with Sainz to overcome slower cars.
Asked whether he was disappointed not to make more progress, Perez replied: “In a way, yes.”
“I think also the strategy, looking at it, when you see where Carlos finished we probably lost an opportunity to make more progress and undercut more people.
“But once we went on a similar tyre age behind Nico, it was pretty much it.”
