Christian Horner After Azerbaijan GP Allows Sergio Perez To Fight Max Verstappen for the Title

Sabyasachi Biswas | 01/05/2023
Christian Horner After Azerbaijan GP Allows Sergio Perez To Fight Max Verstappen for the Title

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.

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.

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.

Post Edited By: Tanish Chachra
Christian Horner Max Verstappen Sergio Perez

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Sabyasachi Biswas

Sabyasachi Biswas is an F1 journalist at The SportsRush. With over one and a half decades of love for the sport and five years of experience in the field, he dreams to be a regular at the paddock when the lights go out. A Red Bull fan and F1 fan in general over the years, he enjoyed watching Felipe Massa, Sebastian Vettel, and Max Verstappen dominate the track. Apart from F1, he's also a big-time Madridista and Federer fanatic. He was a sub-junior level footballer, won inter-district quizzes and debate competitions back in school. A travel freak throughout, he tries different cuisines and learns new cultures whenever he's away from the keyboard.

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