Perez will start Sunday’s race from 19th after he ended Saturday’s all-important qualifying hour buried in the gravel at Copse.

The Mexican had reacted to a slide on turn in, which walked his car wide and onto the damp run-off, at which point it swapped ends and became buried in the gravel trap.

“T9 was tricky, really difficult,” Perez explained.

“When I downshifted I basically lost the rear end quite badly and I went out of the track, and cold tyres and it was completely soaked of water outside of the track, so I just ended up going in the gravel, couldn’t stop the car, couldn’t go straight, very unfortunate incident.”

It was an inauspicious end in a session when McLaren showed especially strongly, and is the latest in a run of disappointing results.

Comments from Helmut Marko in the German press have ramped up the pressure on Perez.

Red Bull’s motorsport advisor to suggest the 34-year-old’s future within the team is far from secure, despite having recently signed a new contract.

Performance clauses are understood to exist and, if triggered, could result in Perez losing the drive for 2025.

“No, no no no, that has nothing to do with it,” Perez argued when asked if that had any impact on his qualifying mistake.

“I’m fully focused on my job, I’m fully focused on getting the performance out of myself, I know where I can be.

“Yesterday we had a very positive day, things were looking in the right direction, so yeah, head down and it’s a matter of time before we turn around the situation.”

Perez has not finished higher than eighth since the Miami Grand Prix, and has not stood on the podium since China.

Meanwhile, Red Bull Racing has come under increasing pressure from McLaren in the constructors championship.

McLaren has had both its drivers progress to Qualifying 3 at every event this year, the only team to have managed it, with Norris’ Austrian GP retirement the first time it’s not had north cars in the points on a Sunday.

That has seen it begin to turn the screws on Red Bull Racing, despite the Milton Keynes operation still holding an 87 point advantage in the constructors’ championship.

As McLaren has increased the pressure on Red Bull, that has been transferred to Perez.

“I think we’re making good progress,” he argued.

“We are just about to unlock a couple of tenths from our side and our lives would be very different, back to where we were in the start of the year.”

He also denied he’s had conversations with Marko or team boss Christian Horner about his current struggles.

“No, nothing about it, fully focused on my job, which is to deliver tomorrow,” he said.

“I don’t have to think about anything else.

“The most concerned about it is myself, so I want to get back to my form as early as possible, and yeah, just fully focus on my form.

“I’m fully committed to the team, I’m fully committed to my career,” he added of his current contract predicament,

“I have a contract with the team and I will turn things around.

“It’s not something that distracts me or anything like that, it’s something that is done and dusted and I want to get back to my form and focus on important things.”

Perez will start the British Grand Prix from 19th, while team-mate Max Verstappen also left the road and picked up damage in qualifying and will start from fourth.

The British Grand Prix begins at 15:00 local time (midnight AEST).