Red Bull Content Pool
F1 News
Horner protects Perez: 'He and Verstappen the most successful combination'
- Jeroen Immink
Red Bull Racing team boss Christian Horner has spoken out about the future of Sergio Perez. Last week, the Englishman said that Max Verstappen's teammate is having a poor season and that his performance will be evaluated. This Formula 1 weekend in Abu Dhabi, Horner has once again spoken out about Perez's position.
Horner sees Verstappen and Perez as most scucesful combination ever
Perez started this F1 season well with several podium finishes and second places behind Verstappen. As a result, he signed a two-year contract extension with the Austian team. Howrver, things then went downhill for the Mexican. "At that time, Sergio was performing extremely well. I think he had, what, four podiums in the first five races. And in order to settle his mind and extend that run of form for the rest of the season, we elected to go early, which obviously didn't work. So, that's just life sometimes," Horner said, stressing that over four seasons, Perez has performed well at Red Bull.
"have to look beyond this year for the contribution that he's made to our team. He's been a great team player. He's a great person. He's extremely popular within the team. He's worked very hard over the four years that he's been with us. And he's played a vital role in the Constructors Championships that we've won, the five Grand Prix victories that he had in our car. It's been the most successful pairing that we've ever had, finishing first and second in the Drivers championship last year," Horner added.
Horner: 'Perez's future is going to be discussed at Red Bull'
Horner again confirmed that Perez's future at Red Bull will be discussed after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. "It's been very, very tough for him. And so inevitably, once we get this race out of the way, we'll sit down and discuss the future. Checo has been a very important part of our team. He's done a tremendous job for us. If you think back, you know, only three years to that 2021 final, two Constructors' Championships that he's contributed to as well. So there's huge respect for Checo within the team and nobody likes to see him struggling like the way he has and we'll sit down and discuss things after the season," Horner stated.
Horner then went on to even discuss Perez's possible replacements at Red Bull. The Briton was already setting the door ajar for Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda at Visa Cash App RB. "We're fortunate that we got a tremendous you know pool of talent it was good to
see you know Isack Hajar getting a run out as well in free practice there, we've got two talented drivers in VCARB, but until the situation is clear with Sergio and what he wants to do, everything else is purely speculation."
This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy
Want more Formula 1? Then follow GPblog on our various social media channels too!