“It wouldn’t have made sense” to let Verstappen and Perez fight for Horner

Model teammate since his arrival at Red Bull, Sergio Perez showed signs of frustration towards his team this Sunday. The Mexican expressed his regret for not being allowed to fight for victory against his teammate. But at Red Bull, in contrast to Ferrari, the hierarchy is established to favor Max Verstappen in his quest for a second world title.

Christian Horner, however, played the appeasement card after the race by explaining that the orders were given because Verstappen was on a more aggressive three-stop strategy, which gave him a better race pace.

« I spoke with [Sergio Perez] when he got out of the car. The problem for any driver, if he doesn’t have an overview of the strategy or the race that is being proposed to him, is that he will always be guided by his emotions when deciding to give up a battle. » explains Horner.

« But he played the team game, I think he understood well that it wasn’t a fair fight, because the difference in pace between the strategies was so great that from the team’s perspective it made no sense. That’s why we didn’t let the drivers fight today. »

The two Red Bull drivers found themselves facing an unexpected and relatively tough opponent, George Russell. The Mercedes driver put up an exceptional defense to resist the RB18s for many laps, which forced the Red Bull strategists to adapt Verstappen’s strategy.

« We decided that our best way to beat George [Russell] was to try and give Max an advantage in tires and switch to a three-stop strategy. At this point, there was a tire delta of almost two seconds per lap [between Verstappen and Perez]. It didn’t make sense from the team’s perspective to let them fight because it was an uneven battle.

» Horner explains in detail to try to appease his driver’s feelings.

Sergio Perez could legitimately claim his third victory in Formula 1, the second with Red Bull, if it weren’t for his team’s decision. The Mexican, who recently admitted that a contract extension was being discussed with the Austrian team, dreams of becoming world champion with Red Bull. An objective that seems difficult to achieve as Max Verstappen is the designated number one.

But with his second place, his third podium of the season, Perez is now in third place in the drivers’ standings with 85 points, which is 25 less than his teammate.

« We had to bring Checo to the pits anyway for the end of the race. So both drivers worked together as a team to get the maximum points today, which was extremely important on the day when, unfortunately, Ferrari had a problem. » celebrates Christian Horner.

Thanks to this double win, Red Bull takes back the lead in the constructors’ standings with a 26-point advantage over Ferrari, the big loser of the day.