Perez “knows what the situation is” as Red Bull exit set after Abu Dhabi GP

Christian Horner has insisted Sergio Perez is “old enough and wise enough to know what the situation is” as Red Bull looks set to end the partnership after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The Mexican will finish only eighth in the drivers’ standings despite team-mate Max Verstappen winning his fourth title, with Perez’s shortcomings largely to blame for the team’s inability to keep McLaren and Ferrari at bay.

After a number of underwhelming qualifying results, the Qatar Grand Prix weekend again proved challenging for Perez, failing to reach SQ2 on Friday before blowing his pitlane start when failing to acknowledge the green light in the sprint race.

Having run in the points in the grand prix, Perez spun behind the safety car before his car ground to a halt, ending his day prematurely.

On the issue that saw his race finish, Horner explained: “We’re just investigating the exact failure but it looks like, obviously he’s spun the car and as he dropped the clutch, the clutch had too much temperature go through it. So yes, one of those things. But more to come after we’ve stripped the car.”

Pointing to his errors across the weekend, Horner added: “We sent him to the end of the pit lane seven minutes ahead of Colapinto for a reason.

“But look, Checo’s contributed a huge amount to this team in the four years that he’s been here. The world championship that Max achieved in ’21, the constructors’ world championships in ’22 and ’23 and obviously this year has been particularly hard.

“He’s won five Grand Prix’ for us and he’s had some outstanding performances in races like Singapore, Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia, to name a few. So everybody holds Checo in the highest of regard and respect.

“But obviously, the situation that we’re in is as painful for him as it is for the team.”

With it looking increasingly likely that Red Bull will break its partnership with Perez at the end of the season following this weekend’s finale at Yas Marina, Horner added: “Checo has had a very tough year and obviously the points, the tables are what they are.

“We’re very much focused on really supporting him to the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi. It’s not an enjoyable situation for Checo being in this position with speculation every week. He’s old enough and wise enough to know what the situation is and let’s see where we are after Abu Dhabi.”