Perez Gets 'Exact Same Opportunity Afforded To Him' As Verstappen

Wednesday, 03 January 2024 at 02:00

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez's team principal, Christian Horner, recently declared that both drivers have the same opportunity afforded to them.

The 2023 season has probably been the toughest season for Sergio Perez in his career. While he achieved his best result in the Championship ever, he also got terribly outperformed by his teammate, Max Verstappen.

Perez has sat alongside Verstappen during all his Championship-winning years, and the driver duo has worked quite well for Red Bull so far.

However, the F1 team principal wants Perez to improve his performance going into the 2024 season, as other teams are expected to close the gap with Red Bull. Horner told racefans.net:

"I think it’s just a matter of him being realistic with himself. We know what Checo’s capable of, he knows what the expectations are – and he’s driving against a generational talent."

Read also

Red Bull With No Plan B Amid Separation With Its Power Unit Manufacturer

Horner called the second seat in Red Bull (the one where Perez is at the moment) the toughest job in the pit lane. While competing against Verstappen is tough, the Brit stated both of his drivers get the exact same opportunity.

"And that is tough. That’s very tough. But he gets exactly the same opportunity afforded to him as Max. He’s aware of that."

Verstappen beat Perez by such a large margin in the 2023 season that some fans started questioning whether their cars were, in fact, equal. Horner suggests one of the biggest Mexican problems was consistency.

"And I think that we just need to see him operating at a more consistent level throughout next year across 24 races."

Max Verstappen showed 100% consistency in 2023 by standing on the podium on after every single race but one. That is something the 33-year-old has to work towards. The team principal added:

"With the form that Max is in, currently you can see he’s unstoppable. But then you have to be realistic in your own objectives. And I think Checo knows what those objectives are."