Verstappen now ‘in the same boat I’ve been in for 10 races’ says Perez as he opens up on Red Bull’s Monza struggles

Sergio Perez started and finished the Italian Grand Prix in eighth position, and bar an entertaining duel with George Russell, didn’t have much to show for his afternoon in a Red Bull that was proving a handful around the Temple of Speed.

Much like his team mate Max Verstappen, Perez struggled with the balance of his RB20, finding tyre wear higher than expected and failing to make a two-stop strategy work to his favour. He started on the hard compound, before running that again, moving onto the mediums late on.

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“[I’m] really disappointed,” he admitted afterwards. “I was expecting it to be difficult but not this bad. We basically were slow and had high deg [degradation], especially on the medium.

“I compromised my race a little bit I think to keep George [Russell] behind, but that worked quite well for us because we were able to hold George behind for a little bit and in the end he came really close to Max, so I think it made a difference to the team in terms of points we secured today.”

Perez has struggled with his car numerous times this season, with no podium finish now since China, and only one top-six result in the last 10 races. But now his struggles have been matched by his team mate, who is also finding the RB20 difficult to handle.

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“I really feel like I’m in the same boat as I’ve been in for the last eight, 10 races but now all of a sudden Max has come into similar issues so yeah, a little bit of a confusion there but it is clear in the data where the problem is,” Perez said at the conclusion of Sunday’s Grand Prix.

“I am very confident the team here at track and back at home have the solution, we have produced great cars in the past and there is no reason why we cannot get back on track.

“We have no questions now, we know the problem. Given it is all related to balance, if we can find a fix then we can switch it around but for now, it’s head down until we find the answer."

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The good news for Perez is that Baku is next on the calendar, a race he won last year and one where he has an impressive record, with a further victory and three podium appearances from seven Grands Prix.