Horner identifies Perez’s areas of improvement for 2024, saying, “He knows it’s a big year.”
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has made it clear that Sergio Perez’s main focus for the 2024 season will be to “fix Saturdays” and avoid the comebacks that have been forced too often this year.
Perez started the season with two pole positions and two wins in the first five races, putting early pressure on teammate Max Verstappen, but the Mexican’s challenge then faded. A five-race stretch from Monaco to England in Q3 didn’t do much, with Verstappen managing to progress to his third consecutive Drivers’ Championship without too much trouble.
Perez rediscovered his lost form as the season progressed but the last seven Grands Prix showed another weakness with an average qualifying position of 8.8 as Verstappen attacked pole 4. Speaking to Sky Sports at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Horner was pleased with Perez’s race-day effort but noted his driver’s often poor qualifying performances had made things difficult.
“I think we’ve had a bit of a reset in the last few races,” Horner said. “If you look at the analysis from the weekend in Abu Dhabi, his effort was again very strong. They just have to get ready on Saturday. “He’s got race speed, his racing skills are good and he’s probably passed more cars than anyone else this year, but we want him to start in the top four and not ninth or tenth, despite his averages in recent years .” I want it.” . Competition”.
