‘It was discouraging’ – Perez concedes Red Bull need to ‘understand where pace has gone’ after being outclassed in Zandvoort

Sergio Perez was left with mixed feelings in the wake of the Dutch Grand Prix after coming home sixth to his team mate’s second.

While he felt positive about his own performance, the Mexican conceded that Red Bull were ‘discouraged’ by McLaren’s pace in the Netherlands, with Lando Norris winning the race by over 20 seconds.

READ MORE: ‘We’re not quick enough’ – Verstappen eager for Red Bull gains after losing out to McLaren rival Norris on home soil

The pressure has been on Perez to perform after a string of lacklustre weekends, with two seventh place finishes before the break marking a bit of an upturn in form. With qualifying his Achilles’ heel, Perez made it to Q3 on Saturday and started a credible fifth – not a bad result considering McLaren’s superiority at this track.

The race didn’t get off to a good start though, with Perez squeezed into sixth by Charles Leclerc. And although he initially managed to stay with the Ferrari, he soon started to drop back, unable to keep up with the scarlet car.

“I think it was, in terms of weekend progression, it has been a solid one,” he said afterwards. “But I was very disappointed with the pace we had today in the race, it was something we were not expecting to have.

“I thought we were going to be a lot closer to the McLaren. Ferrari were a massive surprise and obviously McLaren. Yeah, plenty of stuff to understand… It was discouraging to see what McLaren can do today.”

READ MORE: Norris hails ‘unbelievable’ McLaren pace as he reflects on moment he knew he could beat Verstappen to Zandvoort victory

Perez did manage to get ahead of George Russell’s Mercedes, somewhat helped by his rival opting for a late change to a two-stop strategy. But he then lost out to the recovering Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, with Red Bull quite possibly only the third fastest car in Zandvoort.

“In the beginning things were looking really good, but we just didn’t have the pace to keep up, as the other cars started to pull ahead," Perez added. "We were struggling with the grip on the hard tyre and balance all race.

“We have a lot of work to do, but it has been a good weekend in terms of understanding the car issues and we can go forward to take this as the base and to develop from here.

“We will keep our heads down and be fully focused on getting to the bottom of our issues, we’ve got a lot of work to do to understand where the pace has gone, especially in the race, so hopefully we can get back up to speed in Monza next week."

Sixth was Perez’s best result since he finished fourth in Miami, and he remains without a podium since China. But with the Mexican saying his understanding of what was causing all his issues is there, he sounded more positive than he has since the beginning of the season regarding his own form.

HIGHLIGHTS: Catch the action from the Dutch Grand Prix as Norris beats Verstappen to victory with stunning drive

The bad news though is that with McLaren closing the gap in the constructors’, Red Bull need some big scores to shut down the threat the papaya team boast – and that means Perez needs to start finishing on the podium again.

But does he have the car to do so? That is the big question heading into Monza next weekend.

DISCOVER MORE...

FP2: Piastri leads Norris as McLaren dominate second practice in Bahrain

F1 EXPLAINS: Ask an F1 Team Principal with Williams boss James Vowles

NEED TO KNOW: The most important facts, stats and trivia ahead of the 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix

BETTING GUIDE: Who are the favourites as F1 heads to Bahrain?

EXCLUSIVE: Perez reveals talks with ‘a few’ teams as he hints at possible F1 return