SUMMARY
- Despite a stellar 2023, Red Bull faces uncertainty with Sergio Perez, who struggled despite finishing second in the championship.
- Red Bull team principal Christian Horner stressed the importance of mental toughness and constant performance.
Irrelevant to the spectacular success they achieved in 2023, Red Bull and Sergio ‘Checo’ Perez are in a dilemma. In a recent interview, Christian Horner highlighted Perez’s rebound in the latter half of the rocky past season. Although the Mexican ranked second in the championship standings, he was still significantly behind his teammate Max Verstappen.
After an exhausting week at the Qatar Grand Prix, Perez required some downtime to heal mentally. Checo battled in multiple qualifying sessions and often found himself in tricky racing situations in which he had to get by rivals to go closer to the front. The media upped the pressure by speculating that Red Bull would inquire into recruiting other drivers and end Perez’s contract for the 2024 season.
Horner insists Sergio Perez must undergo ‘mental reset’
According to the Red Bull team lead, “I think that was very important for him. Because we know what he’s capable of and we weren’t seeing the best Sergio. What we saw at the beginning of the year – if you think back to Azerbaijan and Saudi and Bahrain and the early-season races – he was phenomenal. Even in Monza, he drove a great race. But then that first batch of flyaways all started to fall apart for him.”
🗣️ | Christian Horner believes a mental reset over the winter break is crucial for Checo
“I think that was very important for him, because we know what he’s capable of and we weren’t seeing the best Sergio.”
“What we saw at the beginning of the year – if you think back to… pic.twitter.com/T6Bk70TfuS
— RBR News 🇳🇱🇲🇽 (@redbulletin) January 1, 2024
Horner further added, “We know what Checo’s capable of, he know what the expectations are – and he’s driving against a generational talent. And that is tough…And I think that we just need to see him operating at a more consistent level throughout next year across 24 races.”
Perez had trouble mentally replicating the champion’s consistency despite Red Bull’s success which was mostly fueled by Verstappen’s exploits. Questions over his future were sparked by Daniel Ricciardo’s resurgence with AlphaTauri. Nevertheless, the 33-year-old’s contract remained unharmed.
Max Verstappen suggests a reshuffle while replacing Checo
With two victories and a second-place finish in the first five races of the season, the Mexican driver stoked optimism. Perez earned just five more podium finishes during the campaign as his performance dipped all the more after the Monaco Grand Prix. This inconsistency allowed rivals, including Lewis Hamilton, to close in on his second-place standing.
🚨 Verstappen 🤝🏼 Norris
Max Verstappen says he’s “talking” with Lando Norris about being a teammate “in the future”!
“We are talking about it. But he is under contract with McLaren for a long time. We will see what happens in the future.”#F1 #DutchGP #ItalianGP pic.twitter.com/oQV6HR3n16
— GridRivals 🏁 (@GridRivals) August 29, 2023
On the contrary, Verstappen ruled the 2023 season with domineering success. He led a phenomenal 1003 laps to secure his third-world title. As the Austrian outfit looked at switching up in the driver lineup, they naturally turned to their star driver for his recommendation. The Dutchman suggested he would not mind pairing with either of the immensely talented McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Speculations about Sergio Perez leaving Red Bull this year have circulated, with the decision of his replacement resting on close talks between team management and Verstappen.