Sergio Perez has endured a tricky few races and has continued to slip behind Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen in the Championship with some particularly scathing assessments of his form
Sergio Perez has “forgotten” how to race wheel-to-wheel, according to former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer.
The Mexican has endured a rotten couple of weeks after picking up a clutch of penalties. He was punished after making contact with Alex Albon and Yuki Tsunoda in Singapore.
Perez’s fortunes then worsened in Japan. He was hit with two five-second penalties after making contact with Lewis Hamilton and Kevin Magnussen, before being forced to retire himself. That saw Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner tear into the Mexican. He suggested that Perez had a “shocker” during the Japan Grand Prix – comments that have seen his future with the team called into question.
Palmer, who raced for Lotus and Renault during a three-season Formula One career, has claimed that Perez simply does not know how to race wheel-to-wheel anymore. Writing in a column on the F1 website, he said: “We’ve seen the best of Perez in wheel-to-wheel fighting, whether it was helping out his team mate in 2021 in battles with Hamilton, winning his first Grand Prix from the back of the field in Sakhir back in 2020, or even charging back for some results in races this season, such as at Melbourne.