BUDAPEST, Hungary — Three minutes into Daniel Ricciardo’s first monitor session with AlphaTauri, Purple Bull’s Sergio Perez crashed off form forward of the Hungarian Grand Prix.
On his first full lap on monitor, Perez put a wheel on the grass on the high of the hill at Flip 5 and spun out, crashing closely into the tyre barrier.
Given the occasions of the previous 10 days it was a exceptional twist within the narrative surrounding each him and Ricciardo going ahead.
On Thursday Perez, beneath contract by means of 2024, insisted his future remains to be in his palms and that Ricciardo’s return to Purple Bull’s second group has not put him beneath any extra stress than he’s already beneath to ship outcomes.
He sounded shocked at his early mistake and stated over the radio: “Nope, can’t consider this… F—!”
Ricciardo, who sat out the primary six months of the yr as Purple Bull’s third driver, was drafted in to interchange Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri after a profitable check with the senior group at Silverstone.
He has already made it clear his purpose is a return to the Purple Bull group he left in 2018, telling ESPN final yr it might be the “fairytale” finish to his F1 profession.
Perez has been in a rotten spell of kind, having didn’t make the ultimate qualifying session on the final 5 races.
That has left him preventing to make up positions on Sundays in the course of the grand prix.
His struggles have been a stark distinction to teammate Max Verstappen’s dominant run of six straight victories.
Verstappen already leads Perez by 99 factors within the championship.
Purple Bull boss Christian Horner stated after the British Grand Prix that Perez wanted a clear weekend in Budapest to get again on monitor, one thing the Mexican driver stated he was assured of doing.
Horner stated the early hope is the crash will not have an enduring impression on Perez’s weekend.
“It was clearly the beginning of his first lap,” he stated. “He got here by means of Flip 4 OK, he simply misjudged it, made a mistake, put a wheel on the grass on the method to Flip 5 and it simply swapped ends on him.
“You may clearly hear the frustration in his voice and he caught his palms up. So it’s what it’s. We’ll get it rotated and out as rapidly as we will for the subsequent session.”
