Sergio Perez crashed out of first practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Friday as Daniel Ricciardo returned with AlphaTauri; watch Hungarian GP live on Sky Sports F1, P3 is at 11.30am on Saturday; F1 Juniors will be live on Sky Showcase and Sky Sports Mix on Sunday
Friday 21 July 2023 19:14, UK
Under pressure Red Bull driver Sergio Perez made a "rookie error" by crashing out of Hungarian Grand Prix practice, according to Sky Sports F1's Martin Brundle.
Perez inexplicably went off track just three minutes into the opening session of the weekend at the Hungaroring on Friday, extending a shocking run of form that has seen him fail to reach the final part of qualifying for five successive Grands Prix, at each of which team-mate and world championship leader Max Verstappen has taken pole position.
The Mexican driver is contracted to the reigning constructors' champions until the end of 2024, but speculation over his future has ratcheted up this week after Daniel Ricciardo's return to the grid within the Red Bull family at AlphaTauri.
Ricciardo has made clear his ultimate goal is a return to Red Bull, and Perez's latest mishap will only serve to increase uncertainty over his future with the team.
"Just a mistake from my side," Perez said on Friday evening. "But the guys have done a tremendous job to get the car together and get some good running in FP2. We have some good data to look through."
Attempting his first 'flying' lap of the weekend, Perez dipped his left tyres into the grass, which sent the RB19 into a spin and a heavy shunt with the barrier.
While Perez played down the incident, it was the latest error in a staggering run of poor form that has followed a brilliant start to the campaign, in which he shared two victories apiece with team-mate Verstappen and expressed confidence in mounting a title challenge.
There is no disgrace in being outperformed by the brilliant Verstappen but Perez, having recorded just two podium finishes in the last six races in a car that is comfortably the best in the field, has been a hugely disappointing return.
Sky Sports F1's Martin Brundle admitted he was stunned by Perez's mistake, and says his recent poor run of form has been uncharacteristic for the usually "rock solid" driver.
"I can't get my head around that," Brundle said "It is a rookie error.
"I think back to his victories earlier this year, his brilliant victory in Saudi and Azerbaijan, his utterly brilliant victory last year in Singapore on a drying track in one of the most challenging races I have seen for a long time where he was perfect.
"And then he does that! I can only assume it's pressure because he didn't just clip the edge of the grass or the white line, he was on the grass by a metre or something and I can't get my head around it at all.
"Red Bull want him glued to Verstappen's gearbox when he's not winning, maximising the points. What they don't want him doing is throwing all the new upgraded sidepods and bits and pieces in the fence. Then they didn't get much running in the other car in the dry when they've got quite an extreme cooling situation going on there with the sidepods.
"They needed to get up and running and the level that they're at, the experience the drivers have got at Red Bull, they did not need that car in the wall.
"Sergio is so rock solid. All through his career, he's not been that dynamic sometimes, he goes on the missing list sometimes, but my goodness is he fast, consistent, keeps the tyres intact. So all of these errors are so inconsistent with how his Formula 1 career has been."
Another factor adding to the untimeliness of Perez's crash was the arrival of significant upgrades on the Red Bull this weekend.
Teams are not necessarily as well stocked with parts upon bringing new upgrades, so there is potential that any further damage throughout the weekend could result in him having to return to a previous specification.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said the incident was "frustrating" and "not an ideal" start to the weekend.
"It's obviously frustrating to have had that off," Horner said. "It was unfortunate, he just put a wheel on the grass and made a mistake into Turn 5.
"Obviously not an ideal way to start the weekend.
"It was the start of his first lap, so he came through Turn 4, he just misjudged it and it just swapped ends on him. You could obviously hear the frustration in his voice and he stuck his hands up. It is what it is."
Sky Sports F1's Danica Patrick questioned whether Perez's crash could be the "final nail in the coffin", in terms of his Red Bull future.
"He's obviously struggled and there's a lot of conversation about where Ricciardo is going to end up," she said. "There's usually at some point in time, one more nail in the coffin.
"I don't know if he's at that point or not, but it definitely feels like - especially at the point in time it happened with everything else going on - that it was really a huge mistake.
"At what point in time is it the final check, is it three strikes your out?
"Whatever way of describing it you want to have, there's just going to be a certain point in time where people are maybe going to flip a switch and think, 'what do we do now?' And the timing was just so bad for that sort of thing to happen."
In his first dry running of the AlphaTauri, Ricciardo was four tenths slower than new team-mate Tsunoda and finished up 14th in the final timesheet.
The Australian, who has replaced Nyck de Vries at the team, said of his first day back in F1: "Positions are probably not too relevant at the moment. I think it was more just for me today to feel basically where I am with the car, and it all felt pretty familiar.
"I think obviously there's a lot of outside attention, but once I put the helmet on and got in the car, it all felt like - in a way - I never really left.
"I think the car felt okay, so it doesn't feel too bad. A bit of work tonight, but doesn't feel too crazy.
"For sure, a bit more out of me, and for sure there's some things already I feel in the car that we can try to work on.
"So right now, I'm quite optimistic, it looked like Yuki as well had a pretty good day, so I think if we put all these things together, maybe tomorrow we can do okay."
Saturday July 22
8:45am: F3 Sprint
11:15am: Hungarian GP Practice Three (session starts 11:30am)
1:10pm: F2 Sprint
2:15pm: Hungarian GP Qualifying build-up (Sky Showcase)
3pm: HUNGARIAN GP QUALIFYING (Sky Showcase)
5pm: Ted's Qualifying Notebook
Sunday July 23
7:20am: F3 Feature Race
9am: F2 Feature Race
11am: Porsche Supercup
12:30pm: Grand Prix Sunday - Hungarian GP build-up
1:30pm: F1 Juniors: Hungarian Grand Prix (Sky Sports Mix and Sky Showcase)
2pm: The HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX
4pm: Chequered Flag: British GP reaction
5pm: Ted's Notebook
Daniel Ricciardo's return and first F1 Juniors broadcast headline the Hungarian Grand Prix! Watch all the action live on Sky Sports F1 this weekend. Stream the Hungarian GP and more with NOW for £21 a month.
