Sergio Perez has retired from the Canadian Grand Prix after peeling off with mechanical troubles in the early stages. His car came to a rest at turn eight, bringing out the virtual safety car (VSC) as the Red Bull was wheeled away.
Speaking on team radio, Perez said: “I’ve lost the engine man, I’m stuck in gear.” The VSC led to a flurry of pitlane activity with Max Verstappen coming in for an early stop.
Reacting to Perez’s retirement, Red Bull boss Christian Horner said the team believed the issue was a gearbox failure.
He explained: “He’s obviously lost drive. We think it’s a gearbox issue but obviously we needed the car back. Really disappointing for Checo because he could have been very quick out there today.”
When asked whether they were worried the failure could develop on Verstappen’s car, Horner added: “Of course it’s always a concern, but we’ve just got to get our head down and do our best with Max. He’s obviously on a different strategy to the two cars ahead so it will be interesting to see how that pans out.”
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Verstappen has also struggled with failures this season as he was forced out in Sakhir and at the Australian Grand Prix. Reliability is playing an important part this season as teams are still trying to get on top of the new regulations.
Ferrari have suffered their own issues with Charles Leclerc being forced out from winning positions in Monaco and Azerbaijan. Later on in the race, Mick Schumacher also retired from mechanical issues in the same spot.
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