Max Verstappen reflected on an awful weekend for team-mate Sergio Perez and hopes the Mexican can help him to keep Red Bull on top of the Formula 1 standings.
Perez signed a new two-year contract extension with the team which was announced last Tuesday. But he couldn't follow that up with a successful race at the Canadian Grand Prix.
The 34-year-old qualified only 16th fastest and couldn't make up for it on race day. Not only did he struggle to overtake on a wet track, but Perez also lost control and crashed on lap 51, causing damage to his rear wing which proved to be terminal.
Verstappen was asked for his verdict on his team-mate's struggles. And he replied: "I think the damage was done yesterday [in qualifying], of course, for Checo. Starting in the back, it's very hard in these conditions. Then, of course, I saw him retire with the damage.
"So I knew that I had to score big, of course, to not let the other teams catch up a lot. But I do think at the end of the day, as long as you keep winning, so you score 25 points, even if the others finish P2, P3, you don't really lose out too much. And then you kind of can afford sometimes these one-offs."
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As alluded to by Verstappen, he won the race to limit the damage for Red Bull. And their closest rivals in the championship, Ferrari, had an even worse day as both their drivers failed to finish, meaning they scored zero points and slipped to 49 points behind the leaders.
But McLaren and Mercedes each had both their drivers in the top five behind Verstappen. And the Dutchman went on to make it clear he would like some help from Perez when it comes to keeping Red Bull at the top of the championship.
Sergio Perez had a weekend to forget in Montreal (Formula 1 via Getty Images)He added: "Naturally, we always want the two cars to be up there. And I also have no doubt that that will change very soon again. We just need to work on our car, to be honest, to make it a bit easier to drive also, probably, to feel a bit more comfortable. And then I'm sure that we have both cars back up there like we had in the beginning of the season."
Team principal Christian Horner echoed that desire as he put the onus on Perez to make things right next time out at the Spanish Grand Prix. The Briton said: "It was a horrible weekend for Checo and, obviously, we picked up some damage. He'll need to come back strong in Barcelona.
"Thankfully, Ferrari had a shocker and didn't get 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 up there where he was at the beginning of the year from Barcelona onwards."
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