Formula 1 Mexican GP
Red Bull "can only do so much" for Perez as future hangs in balance
Red Bull team boss does little to defuse Perez's precarious situation
Filip Cleeren Erwin Jaeggi
Published: Oct 30, 2024, 1:23 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has insisted his team has done all it can to support a struggling Sergio Perez after a nightmare home weekend in Mexico.
Perez was eliminated in Q1, copped a time penalty for parking forward of his grid spot and then went on to lose further ground after he and RB's combative Liam Lawson collided in Turn 5, resulting in floor damage.
After conceding to having a "terrible" season, Perez's calamitous weekend has put further pressure on the 34-year-old to step up, and pressure on Red Bull to reconsider its options for 2025 after sliding to third place in the constructors' standings.
Read Also:
When pressed on the Mexican's future, Horner said: “Checo, again, has had a horrible weekend. Nothing has gone right for him this weekend.
“He knows Formula 1 is a results-based business and inevitably, when you’re not delivering, the spotlight is firmly on you.
"There is always going to be scrutiny on that. As a team, we need to have both cars scoring points and that is the nature of Formula 1.”
Asked if that scrutiny applied to 2025 or if Red Bull could make a change sooner than that, Horner confirmed Perez would be in the car in Brazil but didn't offer much reassurance beyond the upcoming Sao Paulo weekend.
Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
“From the team’s perspective, we’re working with him as hard as we can to try to support him," he added. "We’ve done everything that we can to support Checo and will continue to do so in Brazil next weekend.
"But there comes a point in time that you can only do so much. There comes a point in time that difficult decisions have to be made.
"We’re now third in the constructors’ championship. Our determination is to try and get back into a winning position but it’s going to be a tall order over these next four races.”
Perez was furious with Lawson's aggressive driving style, blaming the New Zealander - who is in the running for Perez's seat - for ruining his chance to score points as his floor damage resulted in a big downforce loss.
But Horner didn't appear to side fully with either driver. "That's racing. We saw a lot of tough racing out there," he told Sky Sports F1.
In his print media session, Horner - drawing attention to recent insinuations that Red Bull and RB work together as an entity - then added: "I think it demonstrates that you can see the two teams do race each other and, while having the same ownership, are independent in the way that they go racing.
“Liam has apologised to Checo for the incident and obviously, there will be lessons that come out of that. But it’s frustrating, certainly for Checo’s race, to pick up the damage and lose valuable points.”
Read Also:
Formula 1Perez: Lawson doesn't have the right attitude for F1
Formula 1Lawson apologises for giving Perez the middle finger at F1's Mexico GP
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Sauber signs former Ferrari race strategist Rueda in latest management shake-up
Next article How Ferrari has disrupted F1's McLaren vs Red Bull battle
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Filip Cleeren
McLaren held fresh talks after Singapore GP clash as Lando Norris promises to "make better decisions"
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
24 min
McLaren held fresh talks after Singapore GP clash as Lando Norris promises to "make better decisions"
Inside the competition building F1’s future engineering talent
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
Inside the competition building F1’s future engineering talent
More from
Sergio Perez
Sergio Perez: Debut Cadillac season "without a doubt one of my best years"
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
Sergio Perez: Debut Cadillac season "without a doubt one of my best years"
Cadillac’s F1 brakes are still a problem: ‘I had to lift and coast on lap two’
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
Cadillac’s F1 brakes are still a problem: ‘I had to lift and coast on lap two’
“Am I confident? Probably not” – The unprecedented challenge Singapore is throwing at F1 drivers
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
“Am I confident? Probably not” – The unprecedented challenge Singapore is throwing at F1 drivers
More from
Red Bull Racing
Why Isack Hadjar doesn’t like F1 sprints anymore
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
14 h
Why Isack Hadjar doesn’t like F1 sprints anymore
Christian Horner: Kimi Antonelli has 'earned' the right to be Mercedes' number one
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
20 h
Christian Horner: Kimi Antonelli has 'earned' the right to be Mercedes' number one
Latest news
McLaren held fresh talks after Singapore GP clash as Lando Norris promises to "make better decisions"
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
24 min
McLaren held fresh talks after Singapore GP clash as Lando Norris promises to "make better decisions"
2026 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix – How to watch, session times & more
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Indonesian GP
2 h
2026 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix – How to watch, session times & more
Zane Smith fined $50,000 by NASCAR for ramming Carson Hocevar after Phoenix Cup race
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
10 h
Zane Smith fined $50,000 by NASCAR for ramming Carson Hocevar after Phoenix Cup race
FIA expects F1 races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi to continue as planned
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
14 h
FIA expects F1 races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi to continue as planned
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe