Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko believes Sergio Perez's struggles at the Canadian Grand Prix were psychological rather than anything to do with his car.
Perez signed a new deal with the team last week, putting an end to speculation over his future. However, the Mexican driver had a weekend to forget in Canada.
The 34-year-old failed to make it through Q1 on Saturday, punching his car after another underwhelming display. Things didn't get much better on race day, as he crashed out at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Team-mate Verstappen had no such issues, winning the grand prix despite being beaten to pole by George Russell. The reigning champion now sits more than 50 points clear at the top of the drivers' standings, but question continue to be asked of fifth-placed Perez.
"It's not the car, you can see that with Max. I think it's more psychological," Marko told ServusTV (via Motorsport.com), drawing comparisons between the team-mates.
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"It was close, and when the conditions change, he finds it much more difficult. But the fact that it's already the third time (Perez hasn't made it into Q3) is painful."
Marko's comments come after former world champion Jacques Villeneuve questioned the decision to hand Perez a contract until 2026. The Canadian argued Perez was enduring his "worst season ever" with the team, feeling he and team-mate Verstappen have been moving in opposite directions.
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Perez failed to finish after a day to forget in qualifying (AFP via Getty Images)Perez attempted to move up the field on Sunday after his qualifying nightmare, but ended up failing to finish a second successive race after an opening-lap crash in Monaco. Speaking after the race in Canada, though, Verstappen felt the writing was on the wall for his team-mate before the race got underway.
"I think the damage was done yesterday [in qualifying], of course, for Checo," Verstappen said. "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."
Perez will have a chance to put the weekend's issues behind him on June 23 at the Spanish Grand Prix. He struggled in qualifying for last year's race in Barcelona, but recovered to finish fourth, while Verstappen recorded one of his record 19 race wins.
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