Christian Horner has identified tyre temperature as one reason Sergio Perez is currently struggling to match Red Bull Formula 1 teammate Max Verstappen.
After the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, just six points separated the two drivers, but four straight wins for Verstappen – coupled with Perez not scoring a podium in three of them – has seen the lead balloon to 69 points after the Canadian GP.
Perez has also failed to reach Q3 for the last three events, including a heavy crash in Q1 in Monaco as his patchy qualifying form is putting him at a disadvantage to Verstappen.
In Montreal, Perez could only manage sixth in the race, with Horner identifying a strong Verstappen trait as something the Mexican was struggling to match.
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Perez's problems
"I don't think there's anything specific [that was wrong]," Horner told media, including RacingNews365.com.
"He was struggling like others to generate tyre temperature, and that of course is something that Max is very, very strong at with the way he drives a car.
"Checo started on the Hard tyre and lost a little bit of touch before the stint on the Mediums – he had similar issues to the Hards.
"He's had three difficult weekends and three to four Saturdays that then puts you on the backfoot for Sunday.
"We've seen what Checo is capable of only a month or two ago, and he just needs to have a strong weekend to find that confidence and then I've got no doubt he'll be back.
"He's second in the World Championship, the only other driver to win races other than Max this year, so we need to support him through this period."
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