Red Bull boss Christian Horner has ruled out prioritizing one of the team's drivers at the moment and warned that the team's goals must come before the individual's
Sergio Pérez arrived at Red Bull at the start of 2021 ready to help Max Verstappen in the Formula 1 title race as a true squire - and he succeeded, holding off Lewis Hamilton in some crucial moments that allowed the Dutchman to win his first world title. However, the 2022 season has been showing the two drivers from the Austrian team closer on the grid, and the 'Czech's' victory at the Monaco GP further underlined the closeness between the two - at least in the Drivers' World Championship.
However, there are those who think that Red Bull should prioritize only Verstappen and relegate Pérez to the status of 'second best', as Jos Verstappen - the driver's father - criticized after the race in Monte Carlo, saying that the team strategy was in favor of the Mexican. However, for boss Christian Horner, it is of fundamental importance that the drivers understand that the team's goals are more important than the individual ones.
"We are not talking about the Sergio Pérez team or the Max Verstappen team, we are talking about the Red Bull team," Horner stressed in an interview with the Bloomberg channel. "The drivers work for the team and they need to uphold that responsibility. It's important that they understand that the team's ambitions come before their own," he explained.
▶️ Get to know the GRAND PRIZE channel on Twitch by clicking here!
"He [Pérez] is in the championship as much as Max [Verstappen] is, the difference between the two is practically nothing," Horner stressed, referring to the Drivers' World Championship table that has the defending champion just 15 points ahead of the Mexican. "He and Max have been much closer this year," he admitted.
The proximity between the two Red Bull drivers in the standings makes a title race between them possible, at least mathematically. While Verstappen has 125 points, Pérez has 110 points. Between them, Charles Leclerc is in second place with 116 points and is trying to prevent the drivers' title from remaining with the Taurine team for the second year in a row.
Horner again took the opportunity to highlight the season that Pérez has been having in 2022. Although he won the first one only in Monaco, the result could have come earlier. This is because the Mexican driver was very unlucky during the Saudi Arabian GP, when he was leading comfortably - after starting from the pole position, his only F1 race - and ended up being hindered by a safety car. As a result, Max took first place.
"'Czech' is doing a great job this year," he praised. "In Jeddah, he scored a fantastic pole and the time difference between him and Max has been much smaller this year. To triumph in this race [Monaco] is a very well-deserved victory," he closed.