In the latest development, Christian Horner has allowed Sergio Perez to go in a wheel-to-wheel battle against his teammate Max Verstappen. The Red Bull boss assured of this after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix when he was asked about the team order at Milton-Keynes.
According to a report published by German media outlet Formel 1, Horner believes there is no reason to issue a team order. However, things might change if the drivers bring a situation when the team’s interest is hampered, he assured.
Our 25th #F1 one-two finish 🇲🇽🇳🇱 pic.twitter.com/V8EsnHlzfI
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) April 30, 2023
Talking about this, the British executive said that the order will remain as it is, and the drivers are free to race themselves “until the interest of the team exceeds the interest of the driver.” Admittedly, there hasn’t been a situation so far where the two Red Bull drivers were up against each other on track.
As things stand, the two Red Bull stars seem to be the only competitors in the 2023 F1 season. As Aston Martin, Mercedes, and Ferrari are yet to cope with their catch-up game, it’s all down to Verstappen and Perez with their RB-19s.
Horner slammed for biases against Perez
The fans called out the Red Bull team principal for his antic on Sunday. As soon as the race ended, the Briton took to the team radio and apologized for the strategic blunder.
Horner said to the Dutchman that Checo got lucky with the safety car. This came at a time when the Mexican was supposed to have a congratulatory message from the team boss.
“It is what it is”
No complaints from Max after Checo profited from the Safety Car#AzerbaijanGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/HHuCIVYkDt
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 30, 2023
As the fans realized this, they laughed at the 49-year-old over his bias towards one driver. The fans were of the opinion that the team principal was unhappy about Checo’s win over the defending champions.
What is the current status of Verstappen and Perez?
The two-time world champion is still leading the world championship against Checo. The Dutchman has 93 points so far, six more than the Mexican, who’s in P2 with 87 points. The 33-year-old closed the gap significantly after taking two victories in Azerbaijan.
With the Baku win, Red Bull now has four wins out of four races, as Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez have two wins each. Apart from this, the Milton-Keynes-based team has two pole positions and two fastest laps under their belt.
As for the team, they are currently holding P1 in the constructors’ championship with a staggering 180 points. That is more than double what Aston Martin has in their tally. Aston Martin, Mercedes, Ferrari, and McLaren complete the top five with 87, 76, 62, and 14 points, respectively.
