TED KRAVITZ CALLS OUT THE ‘SAME CHRISTIAN HORNER’ OVER LATEST SERGIO PEREZ COMMENTS

Ted Kravitz was not impressed with Christian Horner’s recent quip about Sergio Perez, especially after the team boss “seemingly blamed the media” for questioning the driver’s future.

Re-signed by Red Bull to a two-year contract after his 2022 Monaco Grand Prix victory, Perez has spent most of the months since batting away questions about his future and whether he’s about to be dropped by Red Bull.

Sergio Perez facing uncertain future with Christian Horner undecided

Falling short of the benchmark that is Max Verstappen, Perez hasn’t done himself any favours in previous seasons with his qualifying slumps and on-track errors.

This year though, the Mexican driver seems to have turned a corner with three runner-up results to Verstappen and a third-place finish to sit second behind his team-mate in the Drivers’ Championship.

His form has gone some way towards silencing speculation about his future with more pundits today suggesting he could hold onto his Red Bull seat for a further season.

But in the midst of it all, Kravitz has been left unimpressed with Horner’s quip about Perez “probably” doing well because “he’s out of contract”.

Speaking in his Notebook in China, the pit lane reporter said: “You might have heard Christian Horner, talking to Simon Lazenby after qualifying, seemingly blaming the media for discounting Sergio Perez.

“This is the same Christian Horner who, in the press conference when he was asked about what he put Checo’s improvement, said, ‘Probably because it’s contract renewal season’.

“So think about it this way…

“You’re Sergio Perez and you’ve done a lot of work in the simulator in Milton Keynes and a lot of work with Hugh Bird to improve yourself and you’ve made great improvements. You’re second to Max Verstappen at most of the races so far and you’ve really upped your game.

“Sergio might want a quick contract for the future, but Christian isn’t going to give him that either.

“So, ignoring Checo’s, ‘We’re going to sit down and discuss this in the next few weeks’ line, Christian said, ‘We’re not deciding drivers for a long time’… then went and sang Carlos Sainz’s praises.”

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What Christian Horner said about Sergio Perez’s future

Speaking to the media in China about Red Bull’s 2025 driver plans, Horner made it clear that the team is “not very” close to deciding despite being “very happy” with Perez.

Joking that Perez’s upturn in form this season is “probably because he’s out of contract”, Horner went on to say: “It is incredible that we are at race five and there’s so much talk already about drivers for next year.

“We’re in a situation where we’re very happy with our two drivers, but don’t need to make a decision until much later in the year.

“Max is on a long-term contract, and Checo is out of contract, but driving exceptionally well so far this season.”

He added: “Sergio of course would like to make an announcement tomorrow undoubtedly, but we as a team aren’t in a particular rush.

“We’re in a fortunate position where many drivers would obviously like to drive for the team, but we’re happy with the pairing that we have.

“We just want to make sure that the level of consistency that Checo started the season is maintained and in due course, we will evaluate those options.

“But as I say, at this point in time, we’re very happy with the line-up that we have, so there is no imminent rush to announce the full driver line-up for 2025.”

2024-04-24T10:42:07Z dg43tfdfdgfd