From an emotional first win to proving the critics wrong – When under-pressure F1 drivers bounced back

Pressure is an evitable element in Formula 1, with every team and driver constantly working to keep their rivals at bay in an increasingly competitive field. But should anybody find themselves in a run of disappointing results or poor form, this tension can increase even further.

Sergio Perez knows this all too well, having come under scrutiny in recent weeks following some tough weekends. And while the Mexican’s seat at Red Bull looks safe for the rest of the season, he will still need to up his game in order to bolster the team’s position in the constructors’ championship as well as securing his own future.

It is a tough ask, but there have been several instances in the sport’s past where drivers have managed to bounce back after facing immense pressure – with one even taking the championship lead while doing so…

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Pierre Gasly

After a promising start to his F1 career at the then-named Toro Rosso outfit, Pierre Gasly was promoted to the main Red Bull squad in 2019. However, when he struggled to match the pace of new team mate Max Verstappen in the opening rounds, the squad opted to demote the Frenchman back to Toro Rosso, while Alex Albon stepped in to replace him at Red Bull.

While the move could have dented Gasly’s confidence, the young driver was quick to show what he was capable of by scoring several points finishes during the second half of the campaign. This included a memorable drive to P2 in Brazil to claim his first podium finish.

Gasly continued to be on the ascent in 2020 and, at the Italian Grand Prix, clinched an emotional debut win. In the years after, the now 28-year-old shone as a team leader at AlphaTauri before embarking on a new project with Alpine in 2023, where he recently committed his future.

Max Verstappen

Having claimed three consecutive drivers’ titles across the past three seasons – as well as leading the standings so far in 2024 – it might be hard to recall a time where Max Verstappen faced questions over his form.

However, the Dutchman would probably prefer to forget the first half of his 2018 season, where a series of errors and collisions across the opening six races led to increased scrutiny on his performance.

READ MORE: ‘We have work to do’ – Verstappen acknowledges dominant days are 'behind' Red Bull despite 'positive' Belgian GP

Amongst these incidents was a spin in the season-opener in Australia, a collision with team mate Daniel Ricciardo that put them both out of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and a crash into the barriers during third practice in Monaco.

After realising that he needed to make a change, Verstappen returned to form in some style during the rest of the campaign, where he notched up several podium finishes including two race victories in Austria and Mexico. The Red Bull man ended the year in fourth of the drivers’ standings and has gone from strength to strength in the time since.

Jenson Button

Jenson Button caught the eye during his rookie Formula 1 season with Williams in 2000, meaning that hopes were high when he joined Benetton in 2001. However, the combination of an uncompetitive car and being outperformed by team mate Giancarlo Fisichella put increased pressure on the Briton, who also faced public criticism from Team Principal Flavio Briatore.

Off the back of a challenging two-year stint with the team, Button went on to sign with British American Racing (BAR) in 2003. Here his fortunes started to improve as he got the better of the team’s other driver, former world champion Jacques Villeneuve.

TREMAYNE: 'A big weight off my shoulders' – Button’s brilliant Budapest breakthrough in 2006

Things continued to progress in 2004, a year in which Button looked to have an increased confidence. The British driver took his debut podium just two races in at the Malaysian Grand Prix, the first of an impressive 10 rostrums throughout the campaign.

Button ended the season in third place of the drivers’ championship, making him the best-placed non-Ferrari candidate. It also proved to be one of the strongest years of his career, bettered only by his fairy tale world title with Brawn in 2009 and a second place for McLaren in 2011.

Valtteri Bottas

The 2018 campaign was not an easy one for Valtteri Bottas. After finishing third in his debut outing for Mercedes the year prior – during which he had claimed his first F1 victory – the Finn slipped down to fifth in the season that followed, where he took no wins and had to watch on as team mate Lewis Hamilton stormed to another championship.

So challenging was the season that Bottas later revealed he had considered retiring from the sport at the end of it, having “lost the joy” of racing in Formula 1. But, after taking some time to think during the 2019 pre-season, he opted to stay.

READ MORE: Coffee and cycling addictions, music with Hamilton and mystery gifts – Getting to know the real Valtteri Bottas

His decision quickly proved to be an inspired one. At the first race of the campaign in Australia, Bottas started behind Hamilton on the grid before getting past the Briton into the first corner. From there he surged to a dominant victory, taking the chequered flag by 20 seconds from Hamilton.

The win also gave the Finnish driver an early championship lead and, while he later lost out on the title to Hamilton, it was statistically his best season to date in the sport, with Bottas scoring four wins en route to second place in the standings.

Alex Albon

When he replaced the aforementioned Pierre Gasly at Red Bull midway through 2019, Alex Albon made a positive start by immediately scoring points with a P5 result at Spa-Francorchamps. He went on to finish no lower than sixth at every remaining race barring Brazil, where the Thai driver had looked to be on course for his first podium before contact with Lewis Hamilton dropped him down the field.

However, the pressure started to mount on Albon in 2020 and, after ending the season with less than half the number of points scored by team mate Max Verstappen, he was replaced at Red Bull for 2021 by Sergio Perez.

READ MORE: Albon pins hopes on upgrades for second half of season with Williams ‘digging deep’ to improve

The squad opted to retain Albon in the role of test and reserve driver, meaning that he spent a year on the sidelines. But, after admitting later on that he had felt mentally “destroyed” by the end of the 2020 campaign, the now 28-year-old used the time out to build himself back up.

This led to his return to the grid with Williams in 2022, where Albon outperformed team mate Nicholas Latifi and established himself as something of a team leader. He continued to impress in 2023 and, while his strong form saw him linked to other teams for the future, the London-born driver recently signed a multi-year contract extension to remain with Williams in 2025 and beyond.

Damon Hill

Following in the footsteps of his late world champion father Graham Hill by pursuing a career in motor racing, Damon Hill was perhaps already accustomed to dealing with the pressure that such a scenario can bring when he made his F1 debut in 1992 at the age of 31.

Success came late for Hill, who took his first victory in the sport with Williams in 1993 before losing out to Michael Schumacher in the title fight during the 1994 and 1995 seasons, albeit in controversial circumstances for the former year when the pair collided at the finale in Adelaide.

READ MORE: ‘It's like a dream’ – The day Damon Hill laid the family ghost to rest and won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone

Despite being Schumacher’s closest rival, Hill faced criticism for not having managed to beat him in what many deemed to be better machinery than Schumacher’s Benetton. But, come 1996, the Briton brushed the pressure off to clinch the world championship ahead of Williams team mate Jacques Villeneuve, taking eight victories along the way.

Unfortunately this seemed to happen too late for the team, who dropped Hill for the 1997 campaign. He went on to slip down to 12th during a challenging year with Arrows, before moving to Jordan for 1998. Despite some ups and downs, Hill again showed his ability to bounce back by claiming what would prove to be his last F1 victory in treacherous conditions at the Belgian Grand Prix.