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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Daniel Moxon

Two F1 stars in danger as driver warns of "snowball effect" amid terrible run of results

Concern has been raised for Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll amid their respective poor runs of results.

Both drivers find themselves in similar situations this season. They have quick cars and opportunities to consistently compete for podiums, but are being outshone by their all-star team-mates.

At Red Bull, Perez was wilted under the pressure from Max Verstappen. The Mexican is the only man capable of catching the defending champion in his car, but has gone off the boil horribly.

He started the season well with two wins from the first four races. But Perez's last three weekends have been marred by poor performances in qualifying which have restricted his chances on race day.

As a result, he is 69 points adrift of Verstappen and only nine ahead of Fernando Alonso in third. The Spaniard turns 42 next month but has been racing with the energy of someone half his age, reinvigorated by the pleasant surprise of just how good Aston Martin's car is this season.

Alonso has six podiums from eight races and looks the man most likely to end Red Bull's winning streak – if anyone can. In contrast, however, his team-mate Stroll has finished in the top five of a race only once so far this year.

Stroll has another layer of protection compared to Perez, given that his billionaire father is the owner of his team. But there have been suggestions that both of them might be in danger of losing their places at two of the top-performing teams on the grid if they cannot find form more befitting of their seats.

Lance Stroll has been in Fernando Alonso's shadow for the most part so far this season (Hasan Bratic/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)

And, as Formula E driver Oliver Askew has warned, it is always tough to arrest the slide. "In motorsport there's a snowball effect and when your momentum is going backwards – for Sergio Perez that is the case – it's hard to stop that train," he told the BBC's Chequered Flag podcast.

"It doesn't help that his team-mate Max Verstappen is continuing to grow the lead to hand him the championship. It was just a couple of weeks ago where [Perez] felt like he was able to take the fight to Max and now he's within fighting distance of Fernando Alonso, so it's very difficult."

In Stroll's case, Askew added: "I can't help but think how much further ahead in the constructors' [Aston Martin] would be over Mercedes with the help of Lance Stroll. Yes, he did score points [in Canada, but] it was only a couple. He will be looking to learn how Fernando is getting the success, hopefully, and be able to match him more or just get thereabouts as that's all he needs to do to help that team."

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