Red Bull Motorsport Advisor Helmut Marko has insisted Sergio Perez is "clearly improving" ahead of F1's summer break.
The Belgian Grand Prix this weekend concludes the middle haul of the season before a three-week shutdown in August.
Max Verstappen is running away with a third Drivers' title, arriving at Spa-Francorchamps with a 110-point lead over Perez after the Mexican's difficult spell.
Perez went five races without a Q3 appearance, facing a continuous uphill battle to score meaningful points.
After crashing out in first practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix, another nightmare weekend seemed destined to fall Perez's way. But a strong recovery saw him break his Q3 curse, before rising from ninth on the grid to the podium.
"He is clearly improving after fighting his way from ninth on the grid to third in Hungary," Marko told OE24.
"Finally he made it to Q3 again. You can see an upward trend."
When Perez crashed in qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix, he revealed Red Bull's all-important floor to the world.
"There was fortunately little to see this time as opposed to the presentation in Monaco," said Marko.
"The construction of the underside is very complicated and the aerodynamics affect the handling of the car."
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Perfect Ricciardo return
Pressure on Perez's Red Bull future was added by the return of Daniel Ricciardo to AlphaTauri in place of the ousted Nyck de Vries.
The Australian left the grid after a disappointing two-year stint with McLaren but provided optimism with a solid performance in Hungary, finishing 13th in both qualifying and the race to out-perform teammate Yuki Tsunoda - despite contact with Alfa Romeo's Zhou Guanyu and Alpine driver Esteban Ocon at Turn 1.
"That was a perfect debut," insisted Marko.
""It was definitely the right choice to have him return. He creates a positive mood and energy at the team - he was even heading towards the points."
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