Sergio Perez's form has continued to flounder after he failed to finish a Japanese Grand Prix burdened with problems.
In a race where not much went right for the Mexican, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner declared that the efforts to absolve Perez of a grid penalty for the next race in Qatar were the only positive takeaway.
Perez's problems were set in motion from the opening lap when a slow start saw him make contact with Lewis Hamilton on the run down to turn one, forcing a pitstop for a new front wing.
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He was subsequently handed a five-second penalty for overtaking Fernando Alonso on his way into the pits while under the safety car.
The six-time grand prix winner later had to pit for another front wing, and collected a second five-second penalty, after pursuing an unrealistic move on the inside of Kevin Magnussen which saw his Haas spin out.
After being told to retire the car with damage, Red Bull later re-released the car from the garage so Perez could serve his second time penalty and prevent the punishment from carrying over to a grid penalty at the next race, the Qatar Grand Prix.
Speaking afterwards, Horner acknowledged that avoiding an overhanging penalty was the only good thing to come out of Perez's race in Suzuka.
"It got off to a bad start. He got sort of pinballed on the way down to turn one, which was unlucky for him," he told Motorsport.com post-race.
"He then had damage with Lewis [Hamilton] and broke the front wing. He then passed Fernando on the way in under the safety car and picked up a penalty.
"He goes out a little bit too optimistic, probably out of frustration trying to pass Magnussen…another front wing and steering damage.
"So, the only decent thing we managed to get out of today was not carrying a penalty through into the next race in Qatar."
In his defence, Perez believed that his lap-one incident with Hamilton caused more than just damage to the nose and that contributed in part to his crash into Magnussen.
"I had a horrible start and basically going into turn one, I was just a passenger," he said.
"I had [Carlos] Sainz on my right, Lewis [Hamilton] on the left, and they just took the whole front wing endplate off.
"We changed the front wing and I still had no front end, so I think there were a lot more things damaged on the car.
"I was struggling quite a lot on the braking with the front end. I just wouldn't stop in time and it was my mistake, obviously."
The poor result came as Perez's teammate Max Verstappen came home in first place to clinch Red Bull its sixth constructors' championship.
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