Christian Horner reaction to Sergio Perez red flag speaks volumes at British GP

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner looks dejected at the 2024 British Grand Prix

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was filmed shaking his head after Sergio Perez caused a red flag in qualifying at the British Grand Prix.

Perez brought out the red flags in Q1 at Silverstone when he lost control of his car at Copse in greasy conditions and spun into the gravel.

Christian Horner shakes head after latest Sergio Perez qualifying disaster

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher and Sam Cooper

The mistake means Perez will start Sunday’s race from 19th place on the grid, with the Mexican driver failing to reach Q3 for the fourth time in the last six races.

Despite signing a new contract last month, Perez’s Red Bull seat has come under fresh scrutiny over the British GP weekend.

PlanetF1.com reported on Friday at Silverstone that Red Bull are not ruling out a potential mid-season seat swap between Perez and Ricciardo if the former’s performances do not improve.

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Ricciardo, who has made no secret of his desire to reclaim his former Red Bull seat since returning to the grid with VCARB (then AlphaTauri) a year ago, endured a challenging session of his own, qualifying almost seven tenths slower than team-mate Yuki Tsunoda in 15th position.

Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com after the session, Perez insisted that the renewed uncertainty surround his future did not contribute to his mistake.

He said: “No, no, that has nothing to do with it.

“I’m fully focused on my job, I’m fully focused on getting the performance out of myself, the form that I know what I can be and yesterday we had a very positive day – things were looking in the right direction.

“So head down and it’s a matter of time before we turn around the situation.”

Perez went on to stress that the subject of his future is “done and dusted” after Red Bull announced a new two-year deal for the 34-year-old at the recent Canadian Grand Prix.

Asked if he has had any dialogue with Red Bull team principal Christian Horner and adviser Helmut Marko over his future, he added: “No, nothing.

“But I have a contract and I’m fully focused on my job, which is to deliver tomorrow, so I don’t have to think [about] anything else.

“The most concerned about it is myself, so I want to get back to my form as early as possible – and I’m just fully focused on my form.

“Of course, I’m fully committed to the team, I’m fully committed to my career. I have a contract with the team and I will turn things around.

“It’s not something that distracts me or anything like that.

“It’s something that is done and dusted and I just want to get back to my form and focus on the important things.”

Meanwhile, Ricciardo refused to rule out a potential return to the team with whom he claimed seven of his eight career victories between 2014 and 2018, teasing that “crazy things happen.”

He told media including PlanetF1.com: “I would never make any predictions in this sport.

“I feel like every year that this sport goes on, the more it gets.

“I know it goes in the trend of the sport is getting bigger. It’s becoming more Hollywood, so to speak, in terms of the profile the sport has and also the narrative that runs with the sport now and certainly more Hollywood in terms of it’s so unpredictable.

“So do I have any proof that I’ll be anywhere else? I do not. Crazy things happen but I am certainly not in a place to say that or think that or predict that so try and keep doing my thing.

“Obviously, today wasn’t the case. But again, I know, not to completely just point the finger, but I felt like there wasn’t much more I could do with the situation we put ourselves in.”

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