Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says the entire team wants to see Sergio Perez succeed given the job he’s done in the past, after it opted against replacing him mid-season.
Perez’s form since the start of the European season in Imola has seen a clear drop-off, with 103 of his 131 points coming in the opening six rounds. After a run of 28 points in the eight rounds since, Perez’s future was called into question but a meeting at Red Bull on Monday saw the decision made to stick with him beyond the summer break, with Horner announcing it to the factory.
Speaking before that call was made, Horner says it’s not just Perez’s results that need to be taken into consideration when analyzing his value to Red Bull alongside championship leader Max Verstappen.
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“Of course you take so many things into consideration, but there’s been a great partnership between the two of them,” Horner said. “Checo is a great team player, he’s a massive team player, and that’s why he was selected. That’s why we took him at the end of 2020 to put alongside Max.
“He’s won six, seven races [sic: five wins] for us, second in the world championship last year, goodness knows how many podiums … it has been the most successful combination we’ve ever had as a driver pairing.
“And then what’s frustrating for everybody is Checo struggling because nobody wants to see him struggle. Everybody wants to see him succeed. The team has been and is right behind him. Everybody wants to see him succeed, because it hurts seeing him in the situation that he is.”
Horner had admitted after the race that Red Bull had projected at least a podium for Perez in Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix – where he started on the front row – and had been surprised by the way he faded to cross the line eighth, regaining a spot when George Russell was disqualified.
“Checo’s had a tough run over the last few races, and what’s so confusing for us is the season started so well for him, and then tailed off. He did a great job, a super job in qualifying [at Spa]. Obviously, we need to go through and understand the issues in the race. So we’ve got the time to do that and analyze that and work with him.”