Perez reveals loss of confidence amid Red Bull pressure

Sergio Perez has conceded his crash in Monaco Grand Prix qualifying dented his confidence.

The Mexican has seen his F1 future become the topic of speculation since the mishap, which left him outside the points at the principality and triggered a five-race streak of qualifying failures.

Daniel Ricciardo's return to the grid with AlphaTauri in place of ousted Nyck de Vries only added pressure to Perez, who responded by crashing out of Hungarian Grand Prix first practice within the opening five minutes.

But a resurgence or sorts in qualifying saw Perez end his Q3 curse before he rose from ninth to third in the race to deliver a statement to the F1 world.

Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen has capitalised on Perez's poor run of form, however, racing into a 110-point lead in the Drivers' standings.

On his psychology after his tricky spell, Perez told media including RacingNews365: "Certainly after Monaco, I lost some confidence because the way the crash happened, I lost a bit of confidence with the car and that set me back.

"I have my psychology and that is something I work on.

"Other than that, it is how the sport is. You have good moments and bad moments but when you are at Red Bull, the pressure is always higher in that regard.

"If you have a bad session, you have to answer questions about your future straight away.

"It is how it is but luckily enough, I am in a good place and I just have to focus on making sure I enjoy my job and enjoy the weekend."

'I've had it before'

Asked if he had experienced such up and downs in his F1 career, Perez insisted: "I've had it before.

"It is just how it is. We operate on such small details that sometimes. if everything is not perfect, it can determine being on the podium or being out of the points.

"But it's always something people at home don't understand as much - how much detail goes into our races.

"That can make the difference between having a great race or a very poor race.

"It can happen to any driver in F1."