Perez sees Verstappen disappear on horizon: "This hurts a lot"

With his second retirement of the season, Sergio Perez did little good for his championship chances in Canada. The Mexican had to retire after only seven laps with a broken gearbox and saw Max Verstappen's lead in the championship increase to 46 points. A painful weekend for Perez.

Costly dropout for Perez

After his victory in Monaco Perez was at once bombed as a likely challenger to Verstappen. The Dutchman clearly thought otherwise and wrote the following two Grands Prix on his name, resulting in a substantial lead in the championship.

Although Perez is still second in the championship, his retirement hurts a lot. Perez therefore addressed the press afterwards in a dejected manner. "Zero points is very precious when you are fighting for the championship," F1i.com quotes Verstappen's teammate as saying. Perez is aware that it is still a long season, and much is still possible, but would prefer to forget this race as soon as possible. "This hurts a lot."

Perez doesn't know about giving up yet

It is the biggest death knell within Formula 1, but certainly has a grain of truth; the season is still long. After all, only nine of the 22 races have been run. "We just have to stay on top of it," Perez said. According to the Mexican, the gearbox had reached the end of its life, something to which the phenomenon of porpoising also contributes. Not something that should become much more common if Perez wants to continue to have a chance at the title. "Unreliability is very painful when you are fighting for the championship," he said.