2022 was a dominant year for Red Bull, as the team stormed to both championships and were a better result in Abu Dhabi away from their first ever one-two finish on the drivers’ championship.
Since joining the sport in the 2005, Red Bull has employed a plethora of talented drivers, with the likes of Max Verstappen, Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo all enjoying successful spells with the energy drink giants.
Despite enjoying spells with so many talented drivers, Christian Horner has made a bold claim at Red Bull’s season launch in New York, claiming that their current driver pairing of Max Verstappen and Serio Perez is their best ever.
“First and third in the drivers’ championship and of course, bringing home that constructors’ championship back to Oracle Red Bull Racing for the first time in eight years. And, you know, these guys, I think it’s the best pairing we’ve ever had in Formula 1. It’s been hugely successful,” he said.
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While Max Verstappen certainly has the potential to surpass the achievements of four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel in the future, Sergio Perez is yet to really perform to the levels of Vettel, Ricciardo or Mark Webber.
The Mexican has been a stellar teammate for Verstappen however, often sacrificing his own races to help the Dutchman in his battle for the championship, knowing that he is already out of contention.
F1 pundit Martin Brundle has now questioned what Horner means when says this current driver pairing is the ‘best’, suggesting that he means in terms of the team’s results not the actual talent.
“What does Christian mean when he says best?” Brundle said.
“Does he mean that they fit together well in the combo? In other words that Sergio is probably a little bit more compliant than Mark Webber or Sebastian Vettel would have been.
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“So odd in that respect but Christian’s got the data and that’s what he thinks and he’s the boss. If they’ve got the two you’ve got going into the season ahead, why not say nice things about them?”
Perez’s future at Red Bull has been questioned by some recently, with fans suggesting that he could be replaced by Daniel Ricciardo, who is currently serving as the team’s third driver.
Horner has been quick to shut down these claims however, with the Red Bull boss claiming that the team have no reason to not honour their contract with Perez, which runs until the end of 2024.