Brutal Max Verstappen reality at Red Bull comes to light | F1 | Sport

Ex-Red Bull racer Sergio Perez has claimed former boss Christian Horner told him in their first meeting that he would prefer the team raced with only Max Verstappen. The claim came as part of a wider reflection on the Mexican’s four years spent as Verstappen’s team-mate, during which time he was largely outshone.

Perez signed for Red Bull for the 2021 season, having lost his place at the Racing Point team which was rebranding to Aston Martin and had signed four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel. New team-mate Verstappen won his first title that year and repeated the trick in every season that they were team-mates up until the Mexican was axed at the end of 2024.

Perez did win five Grands Prix representing Red Bull, but did not enjoy anything close to the level of success managed by Verstappen in the other car. Speaking to the High Performance podcast, Perez explained how everything at Red Bull had been geared in Verstappen’s favour from the moment he arrived.

He said: “The first time I met Christian, he told me, ‘We go racing with two cars because we have to, otherwise we would be super happy just to race with one car. Everything is for Max, around Max. We want to win the championship’. So it’s why I said [to myself], look, I come here, and I make the most of it in all regards. And it’s what I did.

“I went there with the tools available, that I had to my expense. I think I overdelivered in all areas over there. It worked out perfectly. Of course, there were some very tough times, very tough periods towards the end as well. The pressure and everyone internally… We had too much success.

“So people got bored, I think, and they were fighting each other and all the drama around the end, but they were four fantastic years. I overdelivered, and only once I left and they brought in all the other drivers did they realise the job that I have done for them over four years.”

Perez struggled especially in his final season with Red Bull and was at real risk of being axed by the summer break, but was saved by the fact potential replacement Daniel Ricciardo was also underperforming at junior team Racing Bulls. But days after the season had finished, it was confirmed that he had been axed.

That left Perez without a place on the 2025 grid and he decided to take a full year our of racing, rather than looking for a seat in another championship. That left him free to start work straight away when Cadillac signed him last summer to be one of their two drivers for their maiden F1 season this term.