Red Bull have admitted the direction of their RB18 development has taken it out of reach of Sergio Perez's preferred car setup.
The 2022 season threatens to be one of unfulfilled promise for the Mexican. After all, earlier in the year he emerged as a genuine contender for the drivers' title after winning the Monaco Grand Prix.
A few days later he was rewarded with a new contract and, just 15 points off Max Verstappen at the top of the standings, looked in good shape for a title tilt. But results since then have seen him fall a long way back while his team-mate has dominated the championship.
Perez is now 125 points adrift of Verstappen who has all but confirmed back-to-back titles, having won seven of the nine race since that race in Monte Carlo. By comparison, the Mexican has two DNFs to his name in that time, zero victories and just three podiums.
His issues are demonstrated by his last five results. Only once in that time did Perez finish in the top three – second place in Belgium – while his result of sixth last time out at Monza is his worst result of any race he has finished in 2022.
So what has gone wrong for Perez since Monaco? Red Bull have shouldered much of the blame themselves, with technical director Pierre Waché admitting that, while their car developments have helped Verstappen's title defence, it has had the opposite effect on their other driver.
"It is multiple factors," he said when explaining what has gone wrong for the 32-year-old. "The main factor is clearly the car balance and the confidence with a car, compared to the beginning of the year when the car was a little bit more balanced for him and a little bit less for Max.
"And after the development potential we have put on the car during the season, moving away from that is maybe a part of it. Finding a right set-up for him, it is quite difficult, to put him as confident as he could be to beat, or to fight with Max."
Perez himself said not long ago that he felt less comfortable with the car with each upgrade. He said earlier this summer: "I think the development of the car has been... I haven't been as comfortable with it as I was in the beginning, let's put it that way. So, I think I've got some work to do to understand what's going on."
