Perez: Three Red Bull DNFs in three F1 races "certainly a concern"

Perez and team-mate Max Verstappen were both sidelined in the closing laps of the Bahrain Grand Prix last month by a fuel pump issue, costing the team P2 and P4.

A separate fuel system problem emerged on Verstappen’s car with 20 laps to go in last Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix, forcing him to retire and leaving the reigning world champion 46 points off early standings leader Charles Leclerc.

Verstappen called the reliability struggles “unacceptable” after the race, and said he could not give any thought to the championship amid Red Bull’s current struggles.

Perez was able to pick up the pieces from Verstappen’s Australia retirement and finish the race second for Red Bull behind Leclerc, but admitted the continued reliability issues were a worry.

“It's certainly a concern,” Perez said.

“We’ve lost a lot of points already in these first three races that in the end can make a huge difference in the championship. So we are obviously aware of it.

“All the team back home in Milton Keynes and here, are working flat out to try to come up with solutions.

“We will see and I'm sure we will turn things around, and hopefully we can start again from zero when we go back to Europe.”

Marshals assist Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18, after retiring from the race

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

The retirements have caused Red Bull to lose significant ground on Ferrari in the constructors’ championship through the opening three races. The team sits third in the standings on 55 points, 49 shy of Ferrari and 10 behind Mercedes in second place.

Leclerc dominated the race in Australia for Ferrari, scoring pole position, the fastest lap and the win while leading every lap of the race to mark his first career grand slam.

Perez thought that Australia was “the first weekend [Ferrari] are a step ahead” after both he and Verstappen struggled to get the balance right on their Red Bull RB18 cars.

“They were on another level,” Perez said.

“I think we also were a bit too poor with our balance. We took a bit of the wrong direction with the car. So, I think there is good analysis to be done.

“I'm sure we will learn a lot from this weekend because yeah, we seem to be a bit harder on the tyres than Ferrari.”