Sergio Perez claims he has the full support of Red Bull team principal Christian Horner and advisor Helmut Marko despite his remarkable slump in form this F1 season.
After the first five grands prix in which he scored two wins and was twice runner-up, Perez was a championship hopeful as he trailed team-mate Max Verstappen by just 14 points.
But since a crash in qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix, the wheels have firmly fallen off his title bandwagon as he has failed to reach the top-10 shoot-out in five consecutive races, whilst conversely, Verstappen has scored five straight pole positions.
In reeling off six successive victories, Verstappen has also now opened a 99-point gap over Perez in the drivers’ standings.
Speculation over Perez’s future with the team has mounted over the last few months with each qualifying performance and race result, yet he claims he “couldn’t care less about that”.
He added: “I’ve been in Formula 1 for 13 years and I’ve seen it all. I’m not worried about any of that. I’m mainly focused on getting my season on track and making sure I keep enjoying this.”
Asked by Speedcafe if he had held reassuring conversations with Horner and Marko, he replied: “I have full support from Helmut and Christian.
“The whole team is fully backing me. They know what I can do, they know my potential, and they’re fully behind me.”
Perez claims the reason for his downfall is due to the fact he has “become a little bit more sensitive to the car in the last few races, especially on Saturday when on low fuel”.
As to the steps being taken to address the issue, he added: “It’s something that I am going to be working on (from Monday) in the simulator with the team. We have some ideas, but we operate in such a small window of detail.
“We need a strong Saturday. The positive thing is that the pace is there on Sundays where, at the end of the day, the points are given. We just have to sort it out and have a clean weekend.”
Questioned by Speedcafe on whether the car was at fault or if the problem was more associated with his driving, he said: “It’s with my driving and how I’m approaching the Saturdays, how we’re doing it as a team. We just have to figure it out.
“The last qualifyings have been in changeable conditions and it’s where a lot of detail comes into play.
“I’m not too concerned. We just have to sort out the qualifying and we’ll be fine.
“We’re making a lot of progress because the pace is there on Sundays, but it’s just the whole weekend overall.
“We’ve had a few bad weekends but at the end of the day, it only matters where we finish in Abu Dhabi.
“It’s a long season still, and I fully believe I can get my season back on track.”
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