Horner hints Red Bull will back Perez as much as Verstappen for F1 title

Christian Horner insists Sergio Perez has the “same chance” as Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen to win this year’s Formula 1 world championship.

Perez has upped his game alongside Verstappen this season, with the gap between the pair noticeably closer in both qualifying and race trim than it was last year.

This was evident at the Monaco Grand Prix when Perez outpaced Verstappen all weekend, claiming his third career victory to move to within 15 points of Verstappen in the drivers’ standings.

The Mexican’s upturn in form hasn’t gone unnoticed by Red Bull, who announced on Tuesday Perez had signed a two-year contract extension to remain at the team until 2024.

Now Perez is pushing Verstappen harder than ever, Red Bull boss Horner was clear it will not back one driver over the other in the title battle.

“It doesn’t matter to us which of the two is world champion,” Horner said, as quoted by Motorsport.com. “Of course, the constructors’ is enormously important.

“But whether it’s Max or Checo, they’re both Red Bull drivers, and they’ve both got the same chance. Of course, it’s a long, long season, and it will have its ebbs and flows. But it’s great to have both drivers right at the sharp end.

“Checo is in the form of his career, he’s doing a great job. And it’s not a one-off. I mean, we saw his pole position in Jeddah. And he’s really hitting a rich vein of form. So that’s fantastic for us. But we need both drivers working the way they are together.

“Because Ferrari had the quicker car, certainly in qualifying, whether it was in the races is unknown, but they are massive opponents, and we’ve got to work collectively to make sure that we get both drivers ahead of them.”

Perez was left questioning his position at Red Bull prior