Horner hits back at Perez's critics: 'You're quick to condemn him'

Max Verstappen did his qualifying simulation fairly early in FP2, resulting in 'only' fifth place on the timesheets. Even with fifth place, the Dutchman still finished quite a bit higher at Zandvoort than Sergio Perez, his teammate at Red Bull Racing (12th). Looking purely at the leaderboard, the Mexican thus seems to be continuing where he had ended the first part of the season, leaving speculation about his future undoubtedly lingering.

After FP2, those questions were, of course, faced by Red Bull's team boss, Christian Horner. This time it was Sky Sports asking the questions. "It's a pressure business, and all the drivers know they're under pressure to deliver, and that's Formula One," Horner said, repeating what he has explained so many times before -Red Bull knows what Perez's qualities are, and now must give him the fastest car possible so that he can reach his full potential.

Horner could have chosen to promote Daniel Ricciardo or Yuki Tsunoda to Red Bull during the summer break. The latter was two-tenths faster than Perez at Zandvoort on Friday, even in a slower Visa Cash App RB car. Nevertheless, the Milton Keynes-based team decided to stick with Perez.

"Well, we've got the best two drivers, we believe, in this car. So we have all the data from all of the drivers. So we have that information. And if we felt that there was something better, we would have changed it by now," said Horner, reinforcing Perez's position at the team.

"So, we believe that, you know, what we have is capable of defending the championship. It finished first and second in last year's championship. It finished first and third in the year before and obviously won in ’21 as well. So you're very quick to condemn Sergio. We're trying our hardest." Horner concluded.