Red Bull team principal Christian Horner revealed that Sergio Perez wasn’t brought into the team to be Max Verstappen’s ‘teammate’.
Perez was always labeled as one of the most underrated drivers in F1. In 2020, when Aston Martin (then known as Racing Point) announced his departure from the team, a lot of people feared that we were going to have an F1 grid without Perez.
That was until Red Bull gave Perez a phone call and brought him in to replace the outgoing Alex Albon. Being Verstappen’s teammate at the Austrian team was never going to be easy, and he has massively struggled to match the Dutch driver.
In his two seasons for Red Bull so far, he has managed to get two race wins but has been miles behind Verstappen in terms of performance. While some people see it as a criticism, team boss Horner lauded the Mexican. He stated that the Guadalajara-born driver was brought into the team for reasons completely different from what people expected.
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Sergio Perez joined Red Bull to help Max Verstappen win World Championships
It’s no secret that Red Bull see Max Verstappen as their number one driver. He joined them in 2016 as a 17 year old and has been their primary focus ever since. Last year, he repaid that faith by dethroning Lewis Hamilton to win his first Championship.
Horner revealed that Perez did exactly what he was brought in to that. The 48-year-old called the word ‘teammate’ a fallacy when it comes to F1, as they are the ones who can really make or break your career. As a result, Perez wasn’t brought in to be Verstappen’s teammate. Instead, their primary goal with the 31-year-old was to help Verstappen and Red Bull win Titles.
Max Verstappen claimed his 10th victory at the #DutchGP, but what’s happened to Perez?#F1https://t.co/6nqNghRCiD
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 7, 2022
They’re definitely not mates,” Horner said during a Q&A for Cambridge Union. “Because the guy in the other car is the only person that you are judged against. He’s the only person with the same equipment. Perez was an incredible servant for the team, where he helped his teammate on numerous occasions.”
Sergio Perez is currently P3 in the Drivers’ Championship Standings with 210 points to his name.
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