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Horner on whether Perez will still drive in 2024 after disappointing performance
- Sam Godber
Sergio Perez, despite a good start to the Dutch Grand Prix, had a disappointing race. Due to some incidents in the rain and a five-second time penalty, Verstappen's teammate finished just outside the podium. While Marko was critical of Perez, Horner is a bit more positive about the Mexican's performance.
The race at Zandvoort had everything. The start was still dry, and after the first lap Perez, among others, went inside to change to intermediates. This turned out to be a good choice, as the Red Bull driver grabbed the lead. Verstappen quickly made up the gap and, because he went in to change to slicks a lap earlier, passed his teammate again. When it started raining again, Perez made several mistakes.
Will Perez still be driving for Red Bull next year?
These mistakes ended up costing him a podium finish. Despite this, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner tells GPblog and others that the Mexican will also drive for Red Bull next year: "Checo's situation for next year is clear. He's a Red Bull Racing driver. We have an agreement with him. And irrelevant of agreements, we're pleased with the job he's doing. You saw his drive today. He was unlucky with the pit lane with the speed limit. He's second in the World Championship. He's the only driver other than Max to win one Grand Prix this year. It's easy to beat up on him when the barometer is so high on the other side, but he will be our driver in 2024."
Also, following a question from GPblog, Horner stressed that he is happy with Perez's performance: "You can only look at the performance on the timesheet and the resultsheet. If Max wasn't there, Checo would have won another four or five races. He's doing his job. He's second in the World Championship. You saw his performance today. He was unlucky to get the speeding fine. Hopefully, he can add to his wins before the end of the year."