Pérez: "At Red Bull, everything was a problem. If I was faster, it was a problem and it created a very tense environment. During my first discussion with [Horner], he told me: ‘We’re going to race with two cars because we have to have two cars, but this project was created for Max […]"

Translation:

"Pérez: "At Red Bull, everything was a problem"

Sergio Pérez described how the Red Bull team has exclusively focused on Max Verstappen over the past few seasons.

As Sergio Pérez prepares his return to Formula 1 with Cadillac, he has once again criticized the peculiar way the Red Bull team, where he spent four seasons (2021-2024), operates. In the Oso Trava podcast, he elaborated on the exclusivity his former team granted to Max Verstappen and his feeling that he was never able to satisfy his employer, regardless of his performance level.

"The team complained about everything ," the Mexican driver asserted. "At Red Bull, everything was a problem. *If I was faster, it was a problem and it created a very tense environment. If I was slower than Max, that was also a problem.** I understood that these were the circumstances I was working in and, instead of complaining, I tried to make the best of it."*

"I knew what I was getting into at Red Bull. *During my first discussion with Christian [Horner], he told me: 'We're going to race with two cars because we have to have two cars, but this project was created for Max, he's our talent.'** I was in the best team, a very complicated team. Being Max's teammate is already very difficult, but being Max's teammate at Red Bull is the worst job in Formula 1."*

Sacked at the end of the 2024 season, Sergio Pérez did not leave Red Bull on bad terms and never spoke ill of his former team, instead seeking to explain the situation he found himself in. When Christian Horner chose to replace him with Liam Lawson, who was himself demoted after two Grands Prix in favor of Yuki Tsunoda, Sergio Pérez sensed that the Milton Keynes team principal was not convinced.

"At that moment, I said to him, 'Christian, what are you going to do when it doesn't work out with Liam?' He replied that there was Yuki. 'And what are you going to do when it doesn't work out with Yuki?' He replied, 'We have a lot of drivers.' I told him he was going to use them all and he said, 'Yes, I know.'"

Since then, the situation at Red Bull has changed dramatically, with the successive departures of Christian Horner and Helmut Marko. Now led by Laurent Mekies, the team has chosen a new teammate for Max Verstappen for 2026. It remains to be seen whether the conditions will have changed and will allow Isack Hajjar to continue in a second seat that has become cursed in recent months."