Christian Horner defends retaining Sergio Perez at Red Bull, dismissing any political influences.
Christian Horner, the team principal at Red Bull, has vigorously defended to the media his decision to retain Sergio Perez following a series of poor results in recent races.
Horner acknowledged that Zandvoort, host of this weekend’s race, tends to be one of the less favourable circuits for Perez, but he expressed his expectation for improved performances in upcoming events.
When questioned about why Red Bull did not place another driver in the RB20 after the break, he retorted: “And replace him with whom?”
“We know what Checo is capable of. He had a strong start to the year, securing four podiums in five races.”
“He’s simply lost confidence and found himself in a bit of a downward spiral. Hopefully, he’s had some time to reset over the summer break.”
“We are aware of the tracks that are coming up where he has been successful. There’s Azerbaijan where he won both the sprint race and the Grand Prix on the same weekend. He clinched a fantastic win in Singapore against Charles Leclerc under mixed conditions. He was very quick at Monza.”
“Zandvoort has not been his strongest circuit, so of the four races coming up before the next mini-break, I would say it is the most challenging.”
Horner denied that the team had faced political pressure and deliberately avoided making the decision to replace Perez before his home race in Mexico later this year.
“Absolutely not, it’s all about performance.”
“We believe we have the two best drivers in this car. We have all the data from all the drivers. So we have that information, if we thought there was something better, we would have made a change already.”
“We believe the pairing we have is capable of defending the championship. The team finished first and second last year, first and third the year before, and of course, clinched the drivers’ championship with Max Verstappen in 2021 as well.”
“You are very quick to write off Sergio. We are doing our utmost to give him the opportunity to regain that form. And he has to deal with all the pressure, the media, all the social media piling up behind this. He is a driver capable of bouncing back, and we are fully supporting him and want to see him respond.”
Horner also clarified remarks made by the team’s consultant, Helmut Marko, stating that Lawson would be promoted to one of the Red Bull teams by 2025.
“He said he would have a seat in Formula 1 next year. We might loan him out for a few years (to Audi).”
“Nothing is set in stone. If we do not take up the option on him, then he is a free agent for 2025. We have specific time periods in the drivers’ contracts for making decisions. I checked with Helmut earlier about his comment and he told me ‘I didn’t say which car, I just said a seat’.”
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No Political Pressure in Perez Decision: Horner No Political Pressure in Perez Decision: Horner
