Christian Horner expresses support for Sergio Pérez and predicts breakthrough in Budapest

Jan Bolscher

Wednesday 12 July 2023 12:59 – Last update: 13:00

Christian Horner has expressed his support for Sergio Pérez. The Red Bull Racing team boss is confident that the Mexican will break his mediocre series in Budapest.

Pérez started the current Formula 1 season strongly, but saw Max Verstappen disappear on the horizon in the world championship in the past few weeks. The 32-year-old driver has failed to reach Q3 in qualifying in the past five races, which means that he is now 99 points behind the Dutchman. However, Pérez is still second in the world championship, so according to Horner there is no reason to panic. The Brit says he has every confidence in his driver.

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Break bad streak

“He now has to break it through”, Horner refers to the media present in Silverstone, including GPFans, about the bad qualifying series. “He will do the same in Budapest, I’m sure. The way he races… Some of his moves, especially those on Carlos Sainz, were impressive. With his speed in the last stint, he was also on top of it. It’s frustrating for him to keep fighting his way back, but he needs to get his qualifying on Saturday and we will support him as a team.”

Support from the team

Horner is therefore not worried: “He is still second in the world championship. I think he has extended his lead over Fernando today. We have a good car, but we have to make sure that both cars participate.” When asked if it was frustrating to see that Pérez managed to gain few places from P16 in his first stint, it sounds: “It is very difficult to overtake here. A large part of the circuit is full throttle, so all cars merged. Williams and McLaren for example were very competitive. That makes it difficult to get up front quickly. The track is also difficult to overtake on.

The Briton continued: “He’s the type of guy who needs an arm around his shoulder and that’s what we do. We support him and know he will come back. We have to make sure that happens as soon as possible.” According to Horner, the lack of one-two on Sunday does not cause dissatisfaction: “We had one-two in the sprint race [in Australië] and a one three in the Grand Prix. You are always looking for perfection in this environment, you are always looking for ways to improve. So in this one that means: okay, what can we do to help Sergio perform on Saturday.”

2023-07-12 10:59:44
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