Christian Horner grilled about Sergio Perez’s future ahead of today's crunch meeting

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner admits his side “didn’t envisage” Sergio Perez’s slide to seventh in the F1 Belgian Grand Prix.

Hopes were high that the under-pressure Mexican could at least finish on the podium and arrest his recent form dip given he had enjoyed his strongest qualifying since the Chinese Grand Prix in April and started second on the grid at Spa-Francorchamps.

But Perez immediately lost out to Lewis Hamilton at the start and fell backwards as the race progressed. He finished eighth on the road, three places behind teammate Max Verstappen, but was promoted to seventh when George Russell was disqualified after his car was found to be under weight in post-race checks.

Asked by Crash.net if Red Bull expected more from Perez in Belgium, Horner replied: “Starting on the front row, pre-race we felt that third and fifth would be achievable.

“We achieved the fifth, but we didn’t achieve the third. So we obviously need to go through the data and understand where his loss of pace was.”

When pushed on whether Red Bull were disappointed with Perez’s performance, Horner said: “I think based on his starting position, we didn’t envisage finishing eighth from second on the grid.”

"Checo’s had a tough run over the last few races. And what’s so confusing for us is the season started so well with him, and then has tailed off,” Horner added.

“He did a great job, a super job in qualifying yesterday. Obviously we need to go through and understand the issues in the race. We’ve got the time to do that and analyse that, and work with him.”

Red Bull are set to hold a meeting today in which Perez’s future is expected to be discussed. Horner attempted to downplay the significance of the meeting and insisted "nobody" wants the prospect of a mid-season swap to become reality. 

“We’ve got a meeting tomorrow [Monday], but it’s not just about Checo,” he said. "We have other topics on the agenda as well, which we always do going into the summer break.

“For us, extending the lead going into the summer break for Max, will give him a better rest. I think for us, the focus is on the constructors’, where we’ve seen another seven or eight points taken off us today.

“We need to turn that around coming out of the break in Zandvoort.”

Pressed by Crash.net on how long Red Bull are willing to give Perez to turn things around, Horner responded: “I think that he’s acutely aware that we need both cars performing. 

“Which is what we had at the beginning of the year, and where we need to get back to.”