Red Bull boss Christian Horner believes it has “got the best two drivers” from their talent pool in the Formula 1 team amid ongoing criticism of Sergio Perez.
Perez’s future at Red Bull continues to be a major talking point following confirmation his spot in the team is safe for the time being.
The uncertainty was caused by a dismal run of form leading into the summer break that resulted in just 28 points across eight rounds.
Still, Horner has come to the Mexican’s defence, stating Perez is still the team’s best option over the likes of Daniel Ricciardo, Yuki Tsunoda and reserve Liam Lawson.
“We know what Checo’s capable of, we know that at the beginning of the year, he was scoring four podiums in five races,” Horner told Sky Sports F1.
“I think he’s just had a lack of confidence and has ended up in a bit of a spiral. I think he’s had a bit of a reset hopefully over the summer break.
“It’s all about performance so for us we’ve got the two drivers that we believe in our pool of drivers are the most capable of giving us the best results.
“If there was a doubt in that we would have changed it.”
Before the summer break, Ricciardo seemed poised to take Perez’s place at Red Bull, despite the Drivers’ standings showing Tsunoda has the better of the Australian.
However, Horner, reiterated his stance that had Red Bull a better option available they would have relinquished Perez from his seat.
That data set gives Red Bull all the information it needs to make decisions on its drivers and Horner isn’t concerned with outside opinions on the matter.
“We’ve got the two best drivers we believe in this car,” he said.
“We’ve got all the data from all the drivers so we have that Information. If we felt there was something better we would have changed it by now.
“So we believe that what we have is capable of defending the championship.”
Horner went on to say Perez contributed to the Constructors’ title wins of 2022 and ’23, finishing third and second in the Drivers’ championships on both occasions, but the unaddressed elephant in the room regarding that argument was that Red Bull had a dominant car for that period.
It doesn’t have that luxury anymore.
Still, across the next four races inclusive of the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, Horner is confident that Perez can rediscover the form that saw him pick up positive results at the start of this year’s campaign.
Zandvoort indeed, is the only outlier across the next four Grands Prix where Horner thinks Perez might have an issue.
“There are tracks that he’s won at coming up,” Horner said.
“We’ve got Azerbaijan where he’s won both Sprint Race and Grand Prix on the same weekend, he’s won another fantastic race in Singapore against Charles Leclerc in mixed conditions, he’s been very quick in Monza.
“Zandvoort hasn’t been his best circuit, so over the four races coming before the next mini-break, I would say this is his most challenging one.
“You’re very quick to condemn Sergio.
“We’re trying our hardest to give him the chance to rediscover that form. And he has to cope with all the pressure, the media, all the social media that piles in on the back of that.
“I think he’s done… he is a driver that’s capable of bouncing back, and we’re giving him our full support and want to see him respond.”
