‘He knows what’s at stake’ – Horner backs Perez to find his form after ‘horrible’ weekend in Canada

“It was a horrible weekend for Checo and we’ve picked up some damage so he’ll need to come back strong in Barcelona,” Christian Horner said afterwards.

“Thankfully Ferrari had a shocker today and didn’t pick up any points so that let us off the hook somewhat. But we need both cars scoring, we got away with it today, but we need Checo back to where he was at the beginning of the year from Barcelona onwards.”

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Perez started the year strongly, with four podium finishes from the first five races. But after being pipped to the rostrum in Miami, the Mexican has struggled – eighth in Imola being followed by two DNFs.

“You see this with Checo time and time again, you think he’s on the ropes and then he bounces back,” continued Horner. “He’s a tough racer, a tough character. It hurts him more than anyone else and he’ll be determined to come back and show everybody the form we know he’s capable of and the form he showed in the first four races of the year.