Christian Horner may soon have to make a decision on who will partner Max Verstappen at Red Bull with Sergio Perez’s position under threat.
Red Bull director Christian Horner has told Lando Norris that Max Verstappen cannot have another ‘alpha’ by his side. Verstappen claimed his third consecutive world championship title in Saturday’s sprint race at the Qatar Grand Prix, amid speculation over whether Sergio Perez will be his partner for the season come or not.
Perez’s form dipped in 2023, with the Mexican struggling to keep up with Verstappen. The 31-year-old driver has two Grand Prix wins this season, but is expected to leave Red Bull. McLaren ace Norris has been tipped to partner Verstappen in the future. However, Horner has warned that Red Bull cannot have two ‘alphas’ behind the wheel of its cars, instead needing a selfless star like Perez for the Dutchman to thrive.
Norris is a man with a strong personality and will probably want to face Verstappen. Horner may therefore miss the opportunity to recruit the 23-year-old player.
The Red Bull team principal was asked by Sky Sports about the possibility of Lewis Hamilton or Fernando Alonso partnering Verstappen. He replied:
“If you put two extreme alphas on a team, it will cause the team to fall apart.
“So I think you always want to get the balance right. That’s one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned.”
Verstappen pushed Perez to a very distant second place in the drivers’ standings, 184 points behind the champion. But he appeared to have Horner’s full support to finish the season in second place.
“He can do it, he can finish second in the championship. He will have our full support to achieve this,” Horner continued.
“I think if Checo just focuses on being the best he can be, instead of trying too hard to beat Max, I think his results will come naturally.”
It comes after Verstappen won his third drivers’ world title in as many years. He only needed to finish sixth in the Qatar Grand Prix sprint race on Saturday, and ultimately finished second behind Norris’ McLaren colleague Oscar Piastri.
“This was the best match. I think the first match brings the most emotions because that’s when your dream in F1 comes true. But this is definitely my best year,” Verstappen said.
“Most consecutive wins and all that, the car itself is probably in the best shape as well. So for me, this car is the thing to be most proud of because of its consistency .”