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Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner has clarified that Sergio Perez's future with the team for the 2024 season remains unchanged despite latest reports painting a different picture.
The Mexican driver's seat has reportedly been in danger recently despite him having a contract for the 2024 season. Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko also changed his tune regarding Sergio Perez's contract situation and pointed out he was not completely safe from losing his season.
However, speaking with Motorsport.com, the Red Bull team boss has come out in favor of the Mexican and clarified the rumors. He said:
“Checo’s situation for next year is clear. He’s a Red Bull Racing driver. We have an agreement with him. Irrelevant of agreements, we’re pleased with the job that he’s doing. You saw his drive today, he was unlucky with the pit lane speed limiter [which cost Perez a five-second penalty that dropped him off the podium to fourth].
“He’s second in the World Championship, he’s the only driver rather than Max to have won grands prix this year. It’s easy to beat up on him when the barometer is so high on the other side, but he will be our driver in 2024.”
Red Bull team boss speaks on the toughest roadblock for Sergio Perez in F1
Christain Horner stated that Max Verstappen's dominance in the sport makes Sergio Perez's job in F1 unenviable as no one can catch the Dutch driver currently.
He also pointed out that Perez might have won many more races in 2023 had it not been for Verstappen. The Mexican has so far won two races in the ongoing season, one in Azerbaijan and the other in Saudi Arabia.
Horner said:
“Max is in a period of his career where he’s just simply untouchable and I don’t think there’s any driver on the grid that would be able to achieve what he’s been doing in that car. Being his teammate is probably in some respects the most unenviable job to have because the barometer is so high.
“You’ve got to look at the performance on the timesheet and the results sheet. If Max hadn’t been there, Checo would have won another four or five races. So, he’s doing his job. He’s second in the World Championship. You saw his performance today. He was unlucky to get the speeding fine. And hopefully, he can add to his wins before the end of the year.”
It will be interesting to see if Sergio Perez can win another race in the remaining nine races of the season.
