Red Bull driver Sergio Perez crashed early in the opening practice of the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Sergio Perez has admitted responsibility for the “mistake” that required Red Bull to spend a significant amount of money on repairs in between the first two practice sessions of the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The Mexican driver is coming under more pressure as a result of a poor stretch of form that has left him 99 points behind teammate Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ standings. This stretch of form includes six consecutive races without making it to Q3.
The pressure has grown as a result of Daniel Ricciardo’s return to the grid with AlphaTauri, therefore his crash in the opening stages of FP1 couldn’t have happened at the wrong moment.
After only four minutes of running at the Hungaroring, Perez slipped one of his wheels onto the grass as he approached Turn 5, spinning into the barriers and severely damaging the suspension, front wing, floor and sidepod.
By the start of second practice after examining the crash, his Red Bull technicians were able to repair the damage.
“It was just a mistake from my side,” Perez conceded. “But the guys have done a tremendous job to get the car together and get some running in FP2.
“At least we got some good data to look through.”
This weekend, F1 and Pirelli will test a “Alternative Tyre Allocation” that would limit the number of tyre sets per car from 13 to just 11.
All three compounds—Hards in Q1, Mediums in Q2, and Softs in Q3—are necessary for qualifying, resulting in a variety of practice programs in FP2.
“With the weekend format in terms of tyre usage, it will be very important to get a good balance through all compounds, because in qualifying we will be going through them all,” Perez added.
“We got good information, we managed to run the Medium tyre as well, so some good info there.”
