Horner responds to brutal question "It made absolute sense"

Perez started the season strongly with four podiums in the first five races. Then it went downhill for the man from Guadalajara. His teammate Max Verstappen is racking up pole positions and victories, but Perez is fighting hard to reach Q3 at every race. In the past five races, the 34-year-old driver has scored just 14 points.

Horner defends Perez but does expect a comeback

"Sergio's had a tough spell and his first five races were very competitive. The last five have been nowhere," Horner admitted. "We want to see this Sergio from the first five back. He knows that, he's aware of that, he's been working hard on that," the Red Bull team principal added. With up-and-coming competition from McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes, Red Bull's constructors' title is in jeopardy if Perez does not start to recover.

Horner stresses that having Verstappen as a teammate is no fun

Recent years have shown that Verstappen's teammates go down not only on track but also mentally. Horner realises this too and therefore remains behind Perez. "You get, particularly with Max Verstappen as your teammate, he knows he's being measured against the very best. We need him up there supporting Max because there's two McLarens now, there's two Ferraris, there's two Mercedes. And we need there to be desperately two Red Bulls."

This article was written in collaboration with Ben Stevens.