David Coulthard believes that Sergio Perez's scrappy Australian Grand Prix weekend was in part due to the Red Bull charger becoming "overconfident" after his win in Jeddah.
In Saudi Arabia, Perez added a second win to Red Bull's 2023 track record, with a dominant performance that was in part facilitated by teammate Max Verstappen starting his race from the back of the grid following a driveshaft failure in qualifying.
Perez headed to Australia just one point behind Verstappen in the Drivers' standings. But from the get-go at Albert Park the Mexican struggled to enjoy a clean session, the Red Bull driver running off track on multiple occasions, including in qualifying where he failed to exit Q1.
"Free practice off the track, qualifying, bins it on the first lap," Coulthard said, speaking to Channel 4.
"I think he was overconfident, coming off the back of his victory in Saudi.
"It turns out he braked 20 meters later on that first run than even Max Verstappen, that is a rather optimistic lunge into Turn 3 which took him to the barrier."
On Sunday, after starting from the pitlane, Perez was able to steer clear of the chaos and commotion to finish fifth, also tagging on a bonus point for achieving the fastest race lap which now puts him 15 points behind Verstappen in the Drivers' standings.
Given the significant performance advantage of Red Bull's RB19, all signs point to an intra-team duel for the title this year between Verstappen and Perez.
But many believe a third world crown for Verstappen will be the Dutchman's to lose. However, after a reliability issue crept in Jeddah, Verstappen is justifiably concerned that a fragile RB19 could prove decisive in the title battle between the two Red Bull protagonists.
"It’s not only about the pace of the car," Verstappen said after his race in Jeddah last month. "We need to make sure we are reliable without any issues."
"When you’re fighting for a championship and especially when it looks like it’s just between two cars, we have to make sure that also the two cars are reliable."
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