Perez's decline in '23 according to Horner: 'That was the turnaround'

It was an eternity ago. The season had barely gotten underway and Sergio Perez thought he had a serious chance of winning the world title. After all, he had won two of the first four Grands Prix. Now in November, it appears that this is where it ended. In fact, the gap to teammate Max Verstappen in the championship can be called immense.

How could things go so wrong for Red Bull Racing's Mexican. He is driving what is probably the fastest car on the F1 grid, yet Verstappen has more than twice as many points as Perez. Reflecting on the season, Christian Horner, Red Bull's team boss, thinks he knows exactly where things went wrong for the current runner-up in the championship.

Perez broken after Miami and Monaco

Speaking to the podcast Eff won with DRS, Horner says: "We all want to see him do the best that he can. But I think since Miami, it's been tough for him because he started the year so well. He won two races. He's right there in the championship. We go to Miami, and he gets an open goal because Max [got caught out by] red flags and different situations meant that he was outside the top 10 in qualifying. At that point, it would have been an open goal for Checo and by the 12th lap or something, Max is ahead of him. And bang. That then created the questions."

One lost race does not normally mean the whole battle is over. In the case of Perez, Horner says that seemed different. "Then we went to Monaco, he tried too hard, he crashed in practice, then you're on the back foot," said the team boss, who hopes Perez manages to cross the line for second place in the championship.