Red Bull Chief Has Stern Warning For Sergio Perez - "Important Year"

Christian Horner talks about the upcoming 2023 F1 season.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner spoke to the press after the Bahrain Grand Prix Free Practice 1 session, where Sergio Perez took the fastest lap on the timesheet.

Red Bull dominated the 2022 season taking the constructors' championship title and Max Verstappen winning his second drivers' championship. Many are expecting the Austrian team to be almost untouchable during the 2023 season, especially as Sergio Perez put in the fastest lap time during pre-season testing last week.

Speaking during the press conference, Horner was asked about Aston Martin's improved performance, Horner explained:

“Their car looks great. They had some really impressive race runs last week. Fernando looks… I don’t know what he’s taking, but he’s looking great on it – he looks on fire.

“I think they could be a real surprise this year. They’re really a bit of a dark horse. It just shows that it is possible to take a jump from the midfield to potentially further up.

“But, of course, we’ve only had small snapshot, let’s see the long runs this afternoon, then qualifying, then the first sample in the race on Sunday.”

After the press conference, the Red Bull team chief was asked if Max Verstappen had returned to the paddock with more confidence in 2023 as a two-time champion. Horner responded:

"Not really. I think he's just as motivated and hungry as ever. 

"So he's just got that little bit more experience and he's got two championships under his belt now. He's still incredibly young at 25 and he's now got quite a lot of experience under his belt. 

"So, he is just more and more complete."

Horner previously said that the 2023 season will be an important year for Sergio Perez, when quizzed on what he meant by this, he explained:

"Well, they're all important and Checo will be looking to reduce the gaps in between himself and Max this year.

"He has 2 great victories last year. 

"And I'm sure he's going to be working hard to improve on that this year."

The second Free Practice session will take place later today ahead of the final Free Practice and Qualifying session tomorrow.