Red Bull make Sergio Perez admission in the midst of ‘quickest car’ debate

Pierre Wache says Red Bull will “not use the development of the car” to create a quick machine for Sergio Perez, instead they’ll use the set-up amidst reports they could roll back on upgrades.

Perez came within a post-Belgian GP crunch meeting or a Christian Horner decision, however one wants to tell the tale, of holding onto his Red Bull race seat for “after” the summer break.

Will Red Bull roll back on upgrades for Sergio Perez?

Unable to reach the podium nine races in a row and scoring just 46 points against Max Verstappen’s 167, the Mexican driver faced a crunch post-Belgian GP meeting about his future.

But it was after that meeting that Red Bull team boss Horner proclaimed Perez would “remain” a Red Bull driver “after the summer break” in what has been billed as a unilateral decision with motorsport advisor Helmut Marko advocating for change.

Horner’s declaration raised many eyebrows as the F1 team principals and the paddock as a whole broke for the sport’s summer vacation but Horner stood firm as he vowed that supporting Perez was Red Bull’s “priority”.

“The priority is to support Checo and to understand what he what he needs. We all want him to turn it around, we all want to see him deliver,” he told the media including PlanetF1.com.

It has since been suggested that supporting Perez may see Red Bull revert to the RB20 of early rounds of the championships when the Mexican driver recorded three runner-up results in four races.

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Put to technical director Pierre Wache that Perez struggled more when Red Bull’s F1 car was ‘more difficult’ to drive, he told Motorsport.com: “One part of the explanation can be that, that is correct.

“What we want is the quickest car, but in a way that can be used by the drivers, that is the main aim.

“If we make the car quicker in a way that Checo can use it, that means that both drivers will be able to extract the maximum out of it.

“Even if both drivers have different needs or preferences, the requirements for the car are still very similar. Fundamentally it’s the same.

“For sure there can be differences in driving styles, but we will not use the development of the car for that. We will use the set-up of the car.”

But while Red Bull won’t roll back on development to aid Perez, Wache said: “We try to see some tendencies, but it is very difficult to highlight them because last year he was struggling as well sometimes, so it is difficult for us to find.

“The main problem we have is that we try to reproduce the car and all these things in simulations, but it doesn’t mean that it simulates exactly what the car is doing in all conditions.

“The interaction with the tyres is very difficult to reproduce, even if we try our best. Improving these areas is an important part of our process.”

Red Bull went into the summer break with the lead in both championships, however, their Constructors’ lead was down to 42 points ahead of McLaren.

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