Sergio Perez reveals Christian Horner’s blunt Red Bull warning: ‘Everything is for Max’

Sergio Perez has revealed that former Red Bull team principal Christian Horner bluntly informed him when he joined the team that they only ran a second car “because they have to”.

Simply put, “everything” about Red Bull was for Max Verstappen.

Sergio Perez reveals Christian Horner’s Red Bull message about Max Verstappen

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After being dropped by Racing Point (now Aston Martin) at the end of the 2020 season, Perez faced an uncertain future in Formula 1 even though he had claimed the team’s only victory with a P1 at the Sakhir Grand Prix.

But only a handful of days after the campaign concluded, Red Bull announced that the Mexican driver would replace Alex Albon as Verstappen’s F1 2021 teammate.

“Having taken our time to evaluate all the relevant data and performances, we have decided that Sergio is the right driver to partner Max for 2021,” proclaimed then-team principal Christian Horner.

But even from his very first conversation with Horner, Perez was under no illusion where he stood in the team’s pecking order.

“It was great. I would say it was fantastic,” he said of his move to Red Bull on the High Performance podcast.

“I knew I was going to Red Bull, into a project that had been built around Max over the years. When they signed me, it was very clear. I knew what I’d signed up for.”

Horner didn’t mince his words with the Mexican racer.

“The first time I met Christian, he told me, ‘We go racing with two cars because we have to, you know. Otherwise, we’d be super happy just to race with one car. Everything is for Max, around Max. We want to win the championship’.”

Perez, though, still took up the challenge.

He spent four seasons alongside Verstappen at Red Bull, claiming five Grand Prix victories and giving the team its first-ever 1-2 in the drivers’ standings in 2023.

But even that season, Perez wasn’t able to match Verstappen on the track and recorded two wins to the Dutchman’s 19, while scoring 285 points, which was less than half of Verstappen’s championship-winning 575 points.

“To face Max at Red Bull is the toughest challenge. I mean, even to face Max at any other team would be very tough,” conceded Perez.

“But to face him at Red Bull, with his team, his people, his surroundings, it’s tough. You need the best of the best in every area, and you just don’t have that, you know.

“While he has all the opportunities in terms of engineering, senior engineers, experienced engineers, everything goes to Max.

“But I knew that before I came, so I thought, ‘Look, I can either complain or get on with what I have’, and that’s what I did.

“The four years I was there, I kept the same engineering team. That’s something I feel extremely proud of.”

But that’s not to say Perez wasn’t supported by Red Bull, it just wasn’t the same as the support shown to Verstappen.

“I felt supported to a certain point. More than that, nobody was willing to do it,” he said.

“The team was behind me, like Christian and Helmut would be happy if I won a race. But at the end of the day, they will tell me the whole project is done for our driver, and our driver is Max.

“So for me it was clear and I accepted that. I just tried to make the most of it.

“There were years where I thought we are on a par, I can really give a fight – but then as soon as there were upgrades, the difference would increase quite a bit.”

Although Perez signed a new contract that was announced after the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix, his struggles to reach the podium at a time when Red Bull’s rivals were closing the gap, meant he was subjected to rumours about his future.

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Although he saw out the season, Red Bull and Perez mutually agreed early in the off-season that he would leave the team. Perez spent 2025 on the sidelines before joining the new Cadillac project.

Red Bull, meanwhile, is onto its third driver since his departure. Liam Lawson lasted two Grand Prix weekends before Yuki Tsunoda took over, only for the Japanese driver to be replaced by Isack Hadjar for the F1 2026 season.

“I think I overdelivered in all areas over there,” declared Perez. “It worked out perfectly.

“Of course, it turned out, there were some very tough times, very tough periods towards the end as well.

“The pressure and everyone internally were… We had too much success, so people got bored and they were fighting each other and you know all the drama around.

“But they were [a] fantastic four years. I think I overdelivered and only once I left and they brought in all the other drivers they realised the job that I’ve done for them for four years.”

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