Hamilton: Red Bull is not helping Pérez

MEXICO CITY — Lewis Hamilton believes Sergio Pérez is not getting the support he needs at Red Bull, saying he would find a similar situation in his team “very hard to deal with.”

Pérez arrives at his home grand prix under pressure this weekend, with less than half the points of his teammate Max Verstappen and no podium finishes from the past four races.

Ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix, Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko was critical of Pérez’s record this year and linked the poor performance to the Mexican driver’s ethnicity — comments he later apologised for.

Although he did not name names, Hamilton believes the lack of support from certain members of the Red Bull team has only made Pérez’s situation worse.

“I think that his team is not helping him at all,” he told Fox Sports on Thursday. “I know that Red Bull is made up of many members, but there are people who affect him psychologically and do not support him.

“If I heard such negative things about myself every weekend, it would be very difficult. So he is in a very complicated environment for him, but I think he knows how to deal with it.

“I haven’t experienced exactly something like what Sergio is going through, but as a driver I understand the psychological and mental pressures. It is something very heavy that falls on you, and it is very difficult to explain it in words.”

Pérez started the season with two victories from four races and was just six points off Verstappen after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in April. Hamilton believes the Red Bull driver will rediscover some of that performance in front of his home fans this weekend.

“I think he has great support around him, he is taking care of himself very well. I was very excited for him at the beginning of the season, because he was driving so well,” he said.

“I even think that at some point he led the drivers’ championship, and I thought ‘we are finally seeing the best of Checo,’ but it is a very long year and a very long season.

“This is a very demanding sport, but what I can highlight most about Pérez is that he always recovers, gets up and keeps trying. Something I can assure you is that Mexico is going to show itself this weekend.

“When I was at Silverstone [Hamilton’s own home track], I was very motivated, and it will surely be something that will happen to him.”