Perez at risk after Mexico GP as Red Bull's Ricciardo verdict speaks volumes

30 October 2023 , 12:19

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Horner gave his verdict on Ricciardo and Perez after the Mexico GP (Image: Getty Images)

Christian Horner doesn't blame Sergio Perez for crashing out of the Mexican Grand Prix – but admitted his eye had been caught by Daniel Ricciardo in his absence.

Perez's home race lasted for just a few seconds before contact with Charles Leclerc at the first corner caused terminal damage to his Red Bull. It was far from ideal for a man whose future with the team is in doubt amid a poor run of form.

In contrast, his potential replacement Ricciardo had a storming weekend. He qualified fourth, ahead of Perez in the slower sister AlphaTauri car, and converted that into the team's best result of the season by finishing seventh.

And it didn't go unnoticed by Horner. "You couldn't fail to be impressed by Daniel this weekend," he said. "I mean, his qualifying was outstanding yesterday and he showed his maturity and experience and pace in the race. I think that fighting a Mercedes in an AlphaTauri for their best result of the year, it was a great performance.

"Had it not been for the red flag, he might have actually finished even even further up. So he can take a lot of confidence, coming back from injury, he's had a rough time over the last couple of months having to sit on the sidelines, but that's the Daniel that we're used to seeing.

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"As we've seen in sport, confidence is such a thing and his confidence is coming up. Checo [Perez], we just need him to have a confidence-boosting result and he could have had it today, but it wasn't to be."

Interesting that he brought up Perez himself, given Ricciardo is understood to be in pole position to replace the Mexican if Red Bull decide a change is required. Regarding his own driver's woes, Horner said he could not blame Perez for going all-out in front of his fans.

"Absolutely gutted to see Checo go out on the first corner," he said. "He probably had his best start of the season, got the tow from three cars ahead, and so arrived with massive overspeed. And you can't blame him, at his home race, going to try and take the lead of the Grand Prix.

"I think you'd have to call it a racing incident because three into one doesn't go and Charles, obviously, couldn't really get out of it. So frustrating for Checo, and really disappointing for his fans to lose him at the first corner.

"Checo had good pace [over the weekend]. It was just so frustrating that it was a first-corner incident, and that was my fear going into the race. It's a tough moment for him. It's in front of his home crowd. It's very emotional. I just said to him, 'You're going for the lead in your home race. You wouldn't be a race car driver if you weren't going for it."

Daniel Moxon