Christian Horner has written off Sergio Perez's FP1 shunt at the Hungaroring as an 'unfortunate' mistake and little more.
The Mexican driver is under heaps of pressure at the moment and hasn't been aided by the return of Daniel Ricciardo, who is gunning for his seat alongside Max Verstappen at Red Bull.
Perez started the season in fine form, winning two of the first four races, but has failed to climb to the top step of the podium again since.
Checo's misfortune was epitomised on Friday afternoon as the 33-year-old crashed on his first lap of the session during FP1 for the Hungarian Grand Prix, bringing out the red flag in the process.
Horner: Perez 'unfortunate'
“It was unfortunate," Horner explained to the Sky Sports F1 team in the wake of Perez's FP1 crash. "He just put a wheel on the grass and made a mistake at turn five.
"I haven’t had a chance to speak to him yet, but I will after the session.
"Hopefully, he won’t have lost too much to this session because [with] these conditions, people aren’t getting many laps in.
"Not obviously the ideal way to start the weekend."
Horner then explained how Perez managed to find his way into the barriers on his first lap of the session.
“First lap, so he came through turn four ok.
"Just misjudged it, [it] was a mistake, put a wheel on the grass on the approach to turn five and it just swapped ends on him.
"So you can obviously hear the frustration in his voice and he stuck his hands up."