Horner refuses to criticise Perez: 'Things haven't gone his way'

In the last four Grands Prix, Sergio Perez has scored as many as eight points. The contrast with his teammate is stark. Max Verstappen scored 83 points in the same number of races, 75 more than Perez. In Spain, Perez again came no further than eighth place but won't get criticism from his team boss.

"Before the race, our simulation said the P8 was the optimum from 11th on the grid. So he achieved that today, we did it on a three-stop strategy and I hope that he will take quite a bit of confidence out of that race. That's what I think. Hopefully, take that into the next couple of weekends, which are big weekends for him."

Horner continues to defend Perez

Horner was asked if he is worried about the constructors' championship. "If I'm not mistaken, I think we extended our lead again today." It's true. Red Bull Racing scored 29 points in Spain, more than the other teams. Yet again, that is mainly because of Verstappen and Perez only made a small contribution to that.

"We need Checo to start to be in the mix. And he knows that, and the team knows that. If he's on the back end of the top eight, you lose strategic options. For example splitting your strategies and so on. Checo in the first four or five races this year was fantastic. We just need to get him back into that headspace."

This is a familiar point from Horner. The Red Bull team boss, therefore, gets the critical question of what has happened to Checo, given that Horner has been telling this story for weeks: "I think he's doing pretty well. Things haven't gone his way. He's a confidence-driven driver. And I think that hopefully, he'll have taken some confidence."

Horner was asked if a mental coach has been hired: "He works with a team of specialists, so I'm sure he's focused across all areas."