Christian Horner’s sternest warning yet to Sergio Perez in ‘can’t afford’ ruling

Trailing Max Verstappen by 187 points in the biggest deficit in the top four teams, Christian Horner has given Sergio Perez his sternest warning yet as Red Bull “can’t afford” such a big gap in 2025.

Although Perez signed a new Red Bull extension earlier this year and survived what was expected to be a summer break driver cull, the Mexican driver’s position at the team is by no means guaranteed.

Christian Horner warns Red Bull “can’t afford” big team-mate deficit

Despite seeing off the challenge of Daniel Ricciardo, who was dropped by VCARB after the Singapore Grand Prix having failed to put in the performances needed to oust Perez, he now faces a second challenger in Liam Lawson.

The Kiwi driver returns to the grid at the United States Grand Prix, Red Bull putting him in the car in what’s being billed as a six-race audition for a 2025 race seat.

And it seems he’s not just auditioning for the vacant VCARB seat, but Perez’s Red Bull job too.

Perez has been off the boil for most of this season with the 34-year-old the first of the Red Bull team-mates to be caught out by the RB20’s balance issues.

But while Max Verstappen was initially able to drive around it, winning seven of the opening 10 races before his current eight-race winless run, Perez never once challenged for the top spot on the podium and has only four podiums to his name this season.

As the only driver from the top four teams without a win on the board, he’s languishing down in eighth place in the Drivers’ Championship where he’s a massive 187 points behind Verstappen.

It’s the biggest deficit on the grid, and one Horner concedes Red Bull cannot have next season given the calibre of their rivals’ driver pairings.

Sergio Perez’s deficit to Max Verstappen laid bare in F1 2024 stats

👉F1 2024: Head-to-head qualifying record between team-mates

👉F1 2024: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

“We desperately need answers,” Horner told Motorsport.com ahead of Lawson’s United States return.

“When you look at our opponents, Ferrari will be strong next year, with [Lewis] Hamilton and [Charles] Leclerc. Plus McLaren with [Lando] Norris and [Oscar] Piastri is a strong line-up.

“We need to make sure that with both of our drivers, that there’s not a big gap between them because you can’t afford to have that.”

Already this season Red Bull’s chances of securing the double have been hampered by Perez’s inability to match Verstappen, costing the team vital points and allowing McLaren to edge ahead in Baku.

One race later after Singapore, the Woking team’s lead is up to 41 points with Perez bringing in a solitary point at the Marina Bay circuit while McLaren bagged a double podium.

Perez says he’s determined to fight back in Austin where Red Bull will join the list of teams upgrading their cars.

“I have been training hard back home in Mexico and in regular touch with the team back in the UK,” said.

“We are looking to come into Austin in a better place with the car. We have made some changes in the break, aimed at improving the pace and we will see how competitive we are in Austin.

“It being a Sprint race makes things a little tricky, because we have one practice session to get the car right before it counts but that’s where working as a team comes in and that’s what we excel at.”