Sergio Perez talks Verstappen, Horner and Red Bull after ‘hardest job in F1’

Sergio Perez called being a teammate to Max Verstappen at Red Bull the toughest gig in Formula 1, and claimed that “everything was a problem” no matter what he did.

Alleging that former Red Bull team boss Christian Horner had told him from the start, “this project was created for Max”, Perez spoke of upgrades quelling his title ambitions by taking away his feeling for the car. But, he “learned a great deal” about how to “make the absolute very best” of the situation.

Sergio Perez: Faster or slower than Max Verstappen ‘a problem’

On his way to becoming a four-time F1 World Champion, Max Verstappen has developed the reputation of a Red Bull teammate killer.

Following the struggles of Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon, Perez lasted four years in the seat. In that time, he had the highs of five grand prix wins, but also major lows in form, which ultimately cost him his drive.

“We had the best team. Unfortunately, everything was destroyed,” Pérez told the Oso Trava podcast.

“We had the team to have dominated the sport for the next 10 years, I think, and unfortunately, everything is over now.”

He added: “I was on the best team, but it was complicated, because just being Max’s teammate is extremely difficult, but being Max’s teammate at Red Bull is the hardest job there is in Formula 1, by far.

“Once I arrived at Red Bull, I began to achieve results. Everyone completely forgot how difficult it was to be in that seat.

“I was extremely conscious of the situation I was entering. I was arriving at Red Bull, and they immediately put you up against one of the greatest drivers in history.”

Perez’s career looked to be over at the conclusion of the F1 2020 season, having lost his seat at Racing Point as Sebastian Vettel arrived at Lawrence Stroll’s team, but was picked up by Red Bull for ’21.

Senior management had thought long and hard about the decision regarding a teammate for Verstappen, as Christian Horner and Helmut Marko had differing opinions on who should replace Alex Albon; Marko was in favour of Nico Hulkenberg, while Horner pushed hard for Perez.

Perez was asked if he walked through the doors at Red Bull believing he could compete, as he did at times, especially early in 2022 and ’23, or as the defined second driver.

The Mexican spoke of a first conversation with the then-team boss, Horner, to answer that question.

“I knew what I was getting into,” he said.

“This project is for Max. It’s Red Bull.

“When I first sat down with Christian, he said to me, ‘Look, we’ll race with two cars, because we have to, but this project was created for Max. Max is our talent’.

“It’s like if Carlos Slim makes a team and I’m his driver, and you hire a Dutchman, then. It’s exactly the same thing.

“That’s what I was getting at, and I was very much aware.

“I told him, ‘It doesn’t matter. I’m on this team. I’m going to develop the car. I’m going to support the car. I’m going to support the team’.”

But, doesn’t it become tempting, Perez was asked, to chase his own ambitions when he saw that he could win at the wheel of a Red Bull.

“Yes, definitely,” he replied.

“Especially in the early parts of the season, in 2022, when the car, by mistake, came out really heavy, so we had a very heavy car that, its weight distribution, was too far forward, so it was much more stable, which was always what I was looking for.

“So, at that moment, I remember that, from the simulator, I was faster than Max.”

As such, Perez arrived at the tracks “automatically” thinking about “winning the race”, such is what happens for a driver “when you don’t have to constantly be thinking how to drive or what the car is going to do”.

Perez saw himself in a 2022 title fight against Verstappen, which was, he claimed, until the upgrades arrived.

“Once the upgrades are here, there is a very clear direction that the team absolutely has to follow,” Perez alleged.

This is when the “issues” began, claims Perez, as that automatic feeling with the car evaporated, and he had to start thinking about how to drive it, and “not crashing”.

Perez called 2023 a cut-and-paste, with him and Verstappen “very evenly matched” until Barcelona, where he was “already a second slower per lap”.

“I couldn’t control the car anymore,” he added.

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From there, Perez said the “pressure” on him began to build, with the driver “the culprit”.

He claimed that Red Bull complained about “practically everything” towards him in regards to his drop-off.

“Because you’re not concentrated, because you’re doing too many commercials, or because you’re busy with other things.

“At Red Bull, absolutely everything was a problem. If you were too quick, that would become a problem. Clearly, it created a very, very tense atmosphere at Red Bull.

“If I were faster than Max, it was always a problem. If I were slower than Max, it was also a problem. So, everything became a problem!”

But, Perez said he “learned a great deal” from the situation, that “complaining” was not the answer, but rather, it was to “make the absolute very best of it, and get the most benefit possible”.

Perez remained with Red Bull until the end of 2024, departing following that season after a fresh collapse in form.

He will return to the grid for the F1 2026 season with Cadillac, racing alongside Valtteri Bottas.

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