Red Bull boss reveals what went wrong with Sergio Perez’s car in Qatar

Sergio Perez endured a challenging weekend at the Qatar Grand Prix as a technical fault in his Red Bull car forced him out of Sunday’s race. The problem, particularly a clutch failure, ruined his chances of a commendable result and added even more complexity to an already challenging season for the Mexican driver.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner shed light on the situation by reaffirming his continued support for Perez. While he acknowledged the challenging year for Perez, he also reiterated the team’s commitment to supporting him until the end of the season in Abu Dhabi. Amid speculation over Perez’s position in the team, Horner’s comments suggest a reassessment after the final, reflecting uncertainty over Perez’s future with the Milton Keynes outfit.

“Checo had a very tough year. The points tables are what they are.”

“We are very focused on really supporting him all the way to the checkered flag in Abu Dhabi,” he told the press. “It is not a pleasant situation for Checo to speculate in this position every week. He’s old enough and smart enough to know what the situation is. Let’s see where we are after Abu Dhabi.”

Perez retired from the race due to clutch failure after spinning under the safety car. Preliminary investigations indicate that excessive heat caused by spinning and recovery attempts compromised the clutch. Reflecting on the incident, Horner noted, “We’re investigating the exact fault, but it looks like he spun the car and when he released the clutch, the clutch overheated.”

This mechanical setback is one of many problems the driver has had this season as he has repeatedly failed to qualify well of late.

During the Qatar Grand Prix weekend, Perez started the sprint race from the pit lane together with Franco Colapinto. This was due to changes made under parc fermé conditions, but was also due to a poor qualifying result. Perez was slow at the green light, allowing Colapinto to overtake. According to the driver, this was done so that he could drive in clean air and collect data for the team.

Horner confirmed his statement.

“We sent him to the end of the pit lane seven minutes before Colapinto for a reason. Checo contributed a lot to this team in the four years he was here.”

He has played a crucial role in Red Bull’s successes, including helping Max Verstappen’s victory in the 2021 World Championship and the team’s constructors’ titles in 2022 and 2023. Horner continued: “Checo has had some outstanding performances in races such as Singapore, Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia.”

Horner is hoping for a strong finish to the season, with all efforts focused on delivering the best possible performance. “We still have one more race to go this year, so we will give it our all. Hopefully he can end the season in Abu Dhabi with a strong race.”

“Then there will be no more racing.” The lack of certainty is fueling speculation about possible changes to the driver line-up, with young talent such as Liam Lawson being considered for a seat in the future.