Christian Horner has declared that Sergio Perez will stay with Red Bull next season.
Perez settled for fourth at the F1 Dutch Grand Prix which his all-conquering teammate Max Verstappen won to cruise closer to a third consecutive title.
Perez, the only other driver to win a grand prix this season, has come under huge pressure since his form dipped with a queue of contenders who would love to inherit the best car on the grid.
“Checo’s situation for next year is clear,” said Red Bull team principal Christian Horner at Zandvoort.
“He’s a Red Bull Racing driver, we have an agreement with him. Irrelevant of agreements, we’re pleased with the job that he’s doing, you saw his drive today, he was unlucky with the pit lane speed limiter.
“He’s second in the world championship. He’s the only driver other than Max to have won grands prix this year.
“It’s easy to beat up on him when the barometer is so high on the other side. He will be our driver in 2024.”
Daniel Ricciardo’s comeback to AlphaTauri in place of Nyck de Vries, and his subsequent claim that he wants the Red Bull seat eventually, piled additional pressure onto Perez.
Lando Norris has also been notably linked with a high-profile switch to F1’s most dominant team alongside Verstappen.
Horner said about Perez’s results this year: “You need to look at the performance on the timesheet and the result sheet.
“If Max wasn’t there, Checo would have won another four or five races. So 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. And hopefully he can add to his wins before the end of the year.”
Since Miami, Verstappen has opened an enormous gap over Perez who was always his nearest challenger in the F1 standings.
Horner was asked if Verstappen’s ability meant he could beat any teammate, and he answered: “I think that Max is in a period of his career where he’s simply untouchable.
“I don’t think there’s any driver on the grid that would be able to achieve what he’s been doing in that car.
“Being his teammate is probably, in some respects, the most unenviable job to have, because the barometer is so high.
“Checo’s pace actually in the race was strong again today. We saw drivers miss the cut completely yesterday, not even make Q3 when you were expecting them to.
“Yeah, it’s very, very difficult. What we’re witnessing at the moment is a driver who is generational.
“If you look at the previous races, in Bahrain he was, in the first race, already in a commanding position. He then had a driveshaft failure in Saudi in qualifying. His recovery through the field was pretty impressive there. So there’s been… he’s been in incredible form for about the past three years I think.”
Perez did briefly lead the Dutch Grand Prix, 13 seconds ahead of Verstappen, amid the confusion of rain and tyre strategies in the early stage of the race.
“By the time Max got through, there was about 13, I think slightly less than that, seconds between Max and Checo,” Horner said.
“At certain points, Max was taking two seconds per lap out of everybody. So his feel, his confidence, commitment, it’s great to witness and be part of.”
Perez can impress again next weekend when F1 returns to Monza.
Keyword: Christian Horner confirms final decision on Sergio Perez’s 2024 Red Bull place