28/10/2024
NEWS STORY
"There comes a point in time that you can only do so much," says Christian Horner as he admits that time is running out for Sergio Perez.
If a weekend like Charles Leclerc's in Monaco - or even Monza - is considered fairy-tale, what is the complete opposite, when basically everything goes wrong.
Well, whatever it is, that is essentially a summary of Sergio Perez' home race.
Though he didn't crash on the opening lap like last year, he failed to make it out of Q1 and following an early clash with Liam Lawson spent much of Sunday afternoon languishing at the back of the field after being handed a 5s penalty for starting out of position.
Thankfully the beer continued to flow, thereby keeping his many thousands of fans in the grandstands 'refreshed' and only too willing to obey the 'aplausos' commands overhead that chillingly echoed John Carpenter's superb They Live.
Combined with Max Verstappen's penalties that saw the world champion cross the line in sixth, Sergio's 'point-less' afternoon appeared to be another nail in the Mexican's coffin.
"I think Checo, unfortunately, he started out of his grid box position, so he picked up a penalty for that," said Christian Horner. His first lap was strong. His start was strong. Then the damage he picked up with Liam, he picked up about 70 points worth of load with a hole in the sidepod and half the side of the floor missing.
"So that was, at that point, you're effectively wounded and scoring points was never going to be on the cards," the Briton admitted.
"Checo again has had a horrible weekend," admitted Horner when asked the obvious question about the driver's future. "Nothing has gone right for him this weekend.
"He knows Formula 1 is a results-based business and inevitably when you are not delivering, the spotlight is firmly on you," he added.
"Formula 1 is a results-based business," he reiterated, "and when anyone is underperforming there is always going to become scrutiny on that," he admitted. "As a team, we need to have both cars scoring points. That is the nature of Formula 1."
Asked about the obvious pressure on the Mexican, he said: "It's constant. It's always there.
"From the team's perspective, we are working with him as hard as we can to try and support him," he added. "We've done everything that we can and we'll continue to do so in Brazil next weekend, but there comes a point in time that you can only do so much.
"There comes a point in time that difficult decisions have to be made," he continued. "We're now third in the Constructors' Championship. Our determination is to try and get back into a winning position, but it's going to be a tall order over these next four races."
Check out our Sunday gallery from Mexico City here.