MONTREAL (Reuters) – Sergio Perez said he needed a reset in Canada this weekend and rejected a suggestion by Red Bull team boss Christian Horner that he would be feeling less pressure after recent disappointments.
The Mexican is now 53 points behind team mate and Formula One championship leader Max Verstappen after seven races all won by Red Bull.
Perez had challenged Verstappen for the overall lead earlier in the season but he failed to do so when he had the chance in Miami in May and then drew a blank in Monaco and finished fourth in Spain.
Verstappen, last year’s winner in Canada, has won five times this year and finished second in the other two.
“Basically, I want a restart, go again,” Perez told reporters at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Thursday.
“Monaco was all down to me, I had a really bad mistake, but then in Barcelona in the qualifying again it was tricky with the damp conditions and we didn’t manage to have a good quali and then we paid the price on Sunday.
“I’m looking forward to get back on the form we had in the early season.”
Horner said after Barcelona that double world champion Verstappen was a tough team mate to deal with.
“I think now there is that separation in the points, that may actually take the pressure off him a little and the expectation he’s putting on himself,” said Horner.
Perez thought about that for a moment and agreed to disagree.
“I don’t think so. We always have to deliver to our maximum. And we just have to make sure we deliver,” he said. “We have a great car and we should be having a lot of podiums, wins and so on from now until the end of the year.”
Perez has only once stood on the podium in Montreal, a third place with Sauber in 2012. Last year, the Mexican retired with a gearbox failure.
“I cannot afford to have any bad weekends any more,” he said. “I think I’ve had two or three bad weekends in the season so I really have to get rid of those and keep the consistency high.”
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Ed Osmond)
