An under-pressure Sergio Perez downplayed his crash during opening practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver crashed out moments into the session forcing him to sit out the balance of the 60-minute hit out.

He was back on track for Free Practice 2 though a lock up on a set of soft tyres compromised his running.

Perez has come under increased focus this weekend following the return of Daniel Ricciardo, who has stepped into the Scuderia AlphaTauri in place of Nyck de Vries.

He’s done so with the stated aim of returning to the Red Bull senior team in future.

Perez was already under the microscope following a lack of single-lap pace on Saturdays at recent races.

That did not translate into a positive start.

He dropped a wheel entering Turn 5 on just his second lap in Free Practice 1, spinning into the barrier and out of the session.

“Yeah, it was just a mistake from my side,” Perez said of the crash.

“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.”

Tyre data this weekend is critical as a new qualifying format mandates the use of the hard, medium, and soft compound rubber during Q1, Q2, and Q3 respectively.

Drivers also have reduced sets of tyres, placing a greater emphasis on maximising each set.

A heavy lock up from Perez in Free Practice 2, flat spotting a set of soft compound tyres, did not aid that process and saw him with 15 laps across the day; the fewest number of laps of all 20 drivers.

“With this weekend format, in terms of tyre usage, it would be very important to be able to get a good balance basically through all compounds,” he said.

“I think we got good information. We managed to run the medium tyre as well, so some good info there.”

“I think we’ve got everything in place to go and try and have a solid weekend,” he concluded.