Brundle 'can't get his head around it': 'Perez made a rookie error'

Martin Brundle could not believe his own when Sergio Perez parked his RB19 in the wall after less than four minutes during the first free practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix. According to the Briton, it has everything to do with the fact that the pressure is so high at Red Bull and it is very difficult to come close to the bar set by Max Verstappen.

Major mistake

"I can't get my head around that. It's a rookie error," Brundle is firm in his assessment at Sky Sports. The 64-year-old Formula One commentator does not understand how things could have gone so wrong for the Mexican. He cites this season's victories in Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan and calls Perez's win on a drying track in Singapore "absolutely brilliant".

At the moment, however, there seems little left of that Perez. The Mexican is struggling incredibly and has had to deal with thump after thump in recent races. Already five times in a row he failed to make Q3 and where teammate Max Verstapppen has won six times in a row, he has only been on the podium twice in as many races with a rather dominant RB19.

Perez feels the pressure

"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," said Brundle, noting that Perez is not living up to expectations at the moment and is scoring a fat fail. "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."

Still, the former Formula One driver, who stood on the podium nine times in his career, does not believe Perez is completely out of it. "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."