Christian Horner believes Sergio Perez’s ‘strength of character’ helps him stay on as Max Verstappen’s teammate

Christian Horner praised Sergio Perez's mental strength as Max Verstappen's teammate at Red Bull.

Christian Horner believes Sergio Perez’s ‘strength of character’ helps him stay on as Max Verstappen’s teammate

Christian Horner [L], Sergio Perez [C], Max Verstappen [R] (image via IMAGO)

Max Verstappen has dominated Formula 1 with Red Bull Racing. The 26-year-old annihilated the competition this year including teammate Sergio Perez. Perez struggled to match the three-time world champion for the majority of the 2023 season. However, Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner has praised the mental strength of the Mexican driver in his battle with Verstappen.

Horner recalled Sebastian Vettel‘s championship years at Milton Keynes when Mark Webber failed to match the young German driver. The Red Bull team boss reckoned that it was a similar story with Max Verstappen as well. Over the past four seasons, the Dutch driver has had three different drivers as his teammates with only Sergio Perez staying on at the Austrian team for the long term.

We had an era with Sebastian [Vettel] where he was incredibly dominant. It was difficult to be his team-mate. Now with Max it’s exactly the same thing. He's a machine, he is arguably [or] certainly the best driver currently in Formula 1 as a three-time World Champion. To be his team-mate is incredibly tough.
Christian Horner said on the Sky Sports F1 podcast (H&T: Racingnews365)

Christian Horner claimed that it was Perez’s psychological strength that had kept him motivated to be Verstappen’s teammate. The Mexican driver has remained determined to match his world-champion teammate despite facing a tough time this year. Horner reckoned that this trait had allowed Checo to not break, unlike Max Verstappen’s former teammates.

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If you're not psychologically strong, you won't cope with being his [Max Verstappen's] team-mate. It's as simple as that. He's just relentless in his pace, in the way that he operates. I think that's been one of the positives for Checo, he’s had the strength of character to be able to deal with how we've seen it break others.

Sergio Perez determined to fight Max Verstappen for the F1 title in 2024

Sergio Perez aims to win the F1 world title in 2024. Despite failing to come close to Max Verstappen’s dominant run this year, the Mexican driver remains confident about his prospects for next season. The 33-year-old has made it clear that he would be looking to defeat his world-champion teammate in the fight for the championship.

Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen
Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen (image via IMAGO)

Although, Checo had similar ambitions for the 2023 season as well. The Mexican driver seemed to be in good form after taking two wins in the early stage of the season. Unfortunately, things did not go well for the 33-year-old as he fell far behind Verstappen in the latter stages. Ultimately, Perez scored less than half the points obtained by the three-time world champion.

Certainly, Sergio Perez has an uphill battle for next season if the 33-year-old truly wants to win his maiden F1 championship. Max Verstappen remains the best-performing driver on the grid with the Dutch driver only looking to improve in 2024. Although, it remains to be seen if Perez can match his world-champion teammate in the upcoming season.

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