Sergio Perez has revealed that Christian Horner, in their first meeting before he joined Red Bull, explicitly stated that the team was built around Max Verstappen, and they would be happy to run only one car if F1 allowed.

The tale of this alleged bias isn't new. None of Verstappen's teammates have ever matched up to him over the course of a season. Perez was one such driver who outshone the Dutchman temporarily, but his performance faded to the point that he was scoring less than 50% of the points his teammate did.

In Sunday's episode of the "High Performance" podcast, the now-Cadillac driver highlighted the reason behind this.

"First time I met Christian, he told me, we go racing with two cars because we have to," said Perez. "Otherwise, we would be super happy to race with just one car. Everything, it's for Max, around Max, we want to win the championship."

Despite this early blow, Perez said he wanted to "make the most of it in all regards." And he did indeed. In his first season with Red Bull in 2021, he stood on five podiums, including a race win: a career-best. Moreover, he assisted Verstappen in winning his first championship over Lewis Hamilton.

In 2022, the Mexican driver's podium count rose to 10 that season, and he won two races, including a special Monaco GP triumph. He carried that form into 2023, winning two of the first five races and finishing two others on the podium.

He declared himself a 'championship contender' only to witness a steep drop in performance. Disgruntled by Sergio Perez's rise, Max Verstappen vowed never to be beaten again. He rewrote F1 history, winning 10 races in a row and scripting the most dominant championship run.

Perez never found his mojo back. After a similar up-and-down story in 2024, he exited the team on a low note.

Sergio Perez admits to witnessing internal fights at Red Bull

What transpired in the months after Sergio Perez's exit shook Red Bull to its core. Team principal Christian Horner was accused of 'inappropriate behavior' by a colleague.

Though the investigation into the matter was eventually dismissed, the situation opened a can of worms. An internal 'power struggle' came to light, and slowly, many key leaders left the team.

While talking about his journey on the aforementioned podcast, Sergio Perez also shared that such internal fights did exist towards the end of his journey with the Milton Keynes-based team.

"Of course, it turned out to be there were some very tough times, very tough periods towards the end as well," he said. "The pressure and everyone internally were - we had too much success, so people got bored, I think, and they were fighting each other, and you know all the drama around, but they were fantastic four years."

On the performance front, however, Perez felt he did more than was expected of him.

"I think I overdelivered, and only once I left and they brought in all the other drivers, they realized the job that I've done for them for four years."

Red Bull replaced Sergio Perez with Liam Lawson, who was replaced by Yuki Tsunoda. Neither of those drivers could get anywhere close to Max Verstappen's performance.

In 2026, it is Isack Hadjar in that second seat, and he has shown glimpses of brilliance in an otherwise dire year for Red Bull.

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Written by

Yash Kotak

Edited by

Yash Kotak