Former Red Bull team principal Christian Horner recalled that there was pressure within the team to steer the development of the car toward Max Verstappen’s needs when Sergio Pérez felt more comfortable with its handling. The account offers context about the differences in how the two drivers adapted to the car, but it is not an admission of sabotage against the Mexican.
During a conversation on the High Performance podcast, Horner explained that Verstappen was unhappy with a car that had too much understeer: it tended to run wide in corners instead of turning the way the driver wanted. For Checo, by contrast, that handling was predictable and made him feel more comfortable behind the wheel.
The Briton linked those characteristics to a start to the season when the two drivers were closer in performance and both won races. His recollection focuses on how the same setup could give Pérez confidence while making his teammate uncomfortable.
Horner placed a meeting around the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, where it was suggested that the car seemed to have been developed around Checo and should respond to Verstappen’s needs. That is the core of his account: a request about the project’s technical direction, not a description of a deliberate intervention to hurt the Mexican’s car.
Image: Max Verstappen behind the wheel of a Red Bull in Singapore, in 2025. Archive photo: Liauzh, CC BY-SA 4.0.
