Sergio Perez admits he “cannot afford” another pointless weekend after a difficult Monaco Grand Prix.
The Mexican’s usual street circuit form deserted him in Monte Carlo as a crash in qualifying saw him start from the back of the grid.
Then on race day, Perez would be involved in several incidents and was lapped twice by his Red Bull teammate and Monaco winner Max Verstappen.
“Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong,” he acknowledged. “It was the worst weekend I can remember in a while.
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“We paid the price for my mistake and that’s been very costly. Really, really sad with the performance on Saturday.
“We knew that this was the price that we were going to pay. I knew my mistake was extremely costly, and then that was 25 points,” he noted. “It is very frustrating.
“I only want to move on from this race because it was a terrible weekend. I have to apologise to my whole team because it is unacceptable to have this kind of mistake.”
Perez’s eventual retirement meant he fell 39 points behind Verstappen in the Drivers’ standings, and Checo knows Monaco has to be his only bad race if he wants to fight for the championship.
“I have to move on and learn from it. I cannot afford another zero,” he declared.
“But still I have some hope,” he insisted. “I really hope I can be back to my normal level in Barcelona. I need to be perfect in the next few races, I need to get victories – and get them soon.”
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko was typically blunt when asked about Perez’s race by Sky Germany.
“I hope that today’s mistakes are enough for the rest of the season,” the Austrian stated. “In general, his speed when he drove free was good. But his crash in qualifying ruined the weekend.”