Horner praises Perez in Zandvoort: 'Did a good job'

F1 News

Horner happy with Perez after qualifying
25 August at 13:28
  • Tygo Bekkema

Sergio Perez qualified fifth for the Dutch Grand Prix, a performance that pleases Christian Horner. The Red Bull team boss is happy that the Mexican driver was showing some improvement again and he hopes Perez can secure a good result and earn much-needed points during the race.

Although the final result in qualifying was good for Perez, his session did not start completely flawlessly. During Q1, he got caught in traffic and thus had to use an extra set of tyres to advance to Q2. "It's a good job by Checo today. So I think matching his best performance around here previously and all the way through. He was a little bit unlucky in the first session. He got a bit of traffic. He was a bit unlucky with Hamilton. So he effectively had to use up another set of tyres to be safe. But I thought he did a good job today."

For some time now, Perez has been working with a new race engineer. While Horner does not think that will make a decisive difference, he is happy with the team performance, "Look, an engineer will never make that kind of difference. But I think Checo, obviously, the set-up, it's always a team effort. And I think that it's been a good team performance with Checo today. Max is on the front row. Points are obviously tomorrow," Horner concluded after qualifying.

Perez could do with a good result. His last podium finish dates back to the Chinese Grand Prix, held in April. Norris will start the Dutch Grand Prix from pole, with Verstappen and Piastri right behind him, and George Russell will also start ahead of the Mexican.

This article was written in collaboration with Kada Sarkozi


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