Perez reveals Horner told him Red Bull's second car existed only 'because they have to'

Sergio Perez has revealed that Christian Horner told him upon joining Red Bull in 2021 that the team ran a second car purely out of necessity, with the entire operation structured around Max Verstappen’s championship ambitions.

Speaking on the High Performance podcast, the Mexican driver recounted his first meeting with the then-team principal in stark terms. “The first time I met Christian, he told me, ‘We go racing with two cars because we have to, otherwise we would be super happy just to race with one car,’” Perez said. “‘Everything is for Max, around Max. We want to win the championship.’”

Rather than being deterred, Perez said the candour shaped his mindset for the four seasons that followed. “I come here, and I make the most of it in all regards. And it’s what I did. I went there with the tools available, that I had to my expense. I think I overdelivered in all areas over there. It worked out perfectly.”

The 36-year-old acknowledged that the final stretch of his Red Bull tenure grew increasingly difficult, citing internal friction that he attributed to an excess of success. “We had too much success. So people got bored, I think, and they were fighting each other and all the drama around the end,” he said, before adding that the four years were nonetheless “fantastic”.

Perez confirmed that both Horner and motorsport adviser Helmut Marko were genuinely pleased when he won races, but stressed that the team’s hierarchy of priorities never shifted. He also noted that the performance gap between himself and Verstappen tended to grow whenever technical upgrades were introduced — a dynamic that reflected where development resources were directed.

He left Red Bull at the end of 2024 and took a year away from the sport before returning with Cadillac in 2026. Since his departure, Verstappen has cycled through three team-mates in Liam Lawson, Yuki Tsunoda and now Isack Hadjar.

Asked whether he believed Red Bull could have won the 2025 constructors’ championship had he stayed, Perez was measured. “You never know. You don’t know, but for me on a personal level, I’m still big friends with everyone at Red Bull, everyone at Aston Martin,” he said. “Red Bull transformed my career. I kept my credibility and my gratitude to all of them.”