Sergio Perez has changed chassis for the Brazilian Grand Prix after Red Bull agreed to a request from the struggling Mexican driver.
In the wake of a hugely disappointing home outing for Perez in Mexico City last weekend, he has been looking for answers about why his form has been so disappointing in recent outings.
Red Bull has now confirmed that as part of its bid to do everything possible to help its driver, the team has agreed to swap chassis for this weekend’s Interlagos event to see if that brings any improvement.
Red Bull chief engineer Paul Monaghan said: “We've changed him back into a different chassis, which we can do.
“He asked if we can, and we said fine. The boys have got a bit of work, but they didn't mind.”
Monaghan clarified that this was a chassis that had been used previously this year, rather than being brand new.
“We don't make a new one at this point of the season,” he said.
While he has been given a different chassis, Perez will continue to run an older-specification floor in Brazil compared to team-mate Max Verstappen – but hopes he will have the same spec by Las Vegas.
Speaking about the new floor, Perez said: “We don’t have it at the moment. Hopefully for Vegas, as there will be a little bit more time.
“[It means] we are carrying a little bit of weight, and it is not ideal, but the team is doing the best they can.”
Monaghan has played down the differences though, suggesting the detailed tweaks are not that major to lead to a lap time deficit.
“Checo is on a different edge specification from Max,” said Monaghan. “So, if you look at the edge wing itself, it's subtly different. It's a small difference.
“The magnitude is, I would argue, small enough that it's not going to cause him to have a significant difference to Max.
“We've done it like that purely and simply because it's the best way to service two cars and ensure that we can service them fairly with spares.”
Red Bull also said that the brake problems that Perez complained about hurting his pace in Mexico were nothing major.
“I don't know there was anything particularly wrong with the car, but the brake material, we don't put it on for multiple events,” he added.
“We can vary the temperature of the brakes. Equally he can vary them if he sits in traffic and so on. But I think we've resolved the doubts we have over those.”
