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Red Bull boss Christian Horner has sent a clear message to Sergio Perez that they want the Mexican up there with Max Verstappen in races. Perez had a horrible race in Imola, where he only qualified in P11 and was then unable to put together a result better than P8.
Getting a P8 in a race that Max Verstappen is winning is not a result that Sergio Perez would have wanted and it all came to his poor qualifying performance. The Mexican was knocked out in Q2 in Imola and from that point onwards it was going to be an uphill task.
Talking about Sergio Perez after the race, Christian Horner said that P7 was the best result on the table according to the simulation. But he conceded that Red Bull needs Perez right at the front alongside Max Verstappen, like Ferrari and McLaren drivers. He told Sky Sports,
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"It was a shame for Checo, affectively being out of kilter following Qualifying. We ran the reverse strategy for him. He got P8 and P7 was theoretically the best we could see before the race on our analysis."
He added,
"We need him up there supporting Max, in the same way the two Ferraris and two McLarens are together."
Summarising his race, Sergio Perez felt that P8 was the best he could have achieved. He said,
"We knew it was going to be a hard day today as the whole weekend was compromised from qualifying. Imola is a difficult track to overtake on so this was the maximum we could do today, especially (when) we were struggling with traffic in the beginning on my first stint and on the hard tyres we had no margin to play around with the balance."
Horner praises Sergio Perez's start to the season compared to Max Verstappen
Talking about the fate of Sergio Perez within the team, Christian Horner was all praise for the Mexican driver and felt that he had started the season well. Talking about a key change in strategy from the Mexican, Horner talked about how Perez was now not too bothered by what Max Verstappen was doing, and hence that has helped in alleviating a lot of pressure on him. Horner said,
"He has had a much better start to this year bar this weekend which has been an anomaly - he's been very strong. He's been more relaxed, less focused on what Max is doing and focusing on himself. He's responded to that."
Sergio Perez will be looking for a better result in the coming race in Monaco. The Mexican has won the race in 2022, while Max Verstappen won Red Bull the event in 2023.
