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Horner's blunt message to Pérez upon Red Bull arrival
Sergio Pérez recently revealed the unvarnished truth that Christian Horner presented to him immediately upon his arrival at Red Bull Racing.
By Nadia van Leeuwen - 2026-07-13T14:08:38.000Z - 1 min read
Sergio Pérez has provided a remarkable glimpse into the internal dynamics at Red Bull Racing. The Mexican driver looked back on his early days with the team, when then team principal Christian Horner presented him directly with the unvarnished reality of the situation.
Horner made it clear to Pérez that the presence of a second car was primarily an obligation for Red Bull. According to the then team principal, there was no active desire to necessarily field two cars.
In fact, the Brit openly indicated that the team would, in principle, have been satisfied with only Max Verstappen on the grid. Pérez made this confronting revelation during an appearance on the High Performance podcast.
For Pérez, this immediately painted a clear picture of the immense challenge ahead of him in Milton Keynes. From day one, it set the tone for his role within the setup, where the focus was evidently already heavily on the performance of one specific driver.