F1 News: New Red Bull revelations as Checo Perez tells all, Horner admission and internal 'fighting'

Christian Horner, Max Verstappen y Sergio Perez en Belgica — Photo: © IMAGO

Red Bull Racing

Inside Red Bull, the new revelations: Horner's shocking admission and internal 'fighting'

Checo opens up on the Red Bull years

Graham Shaw Consultant Editor

Digital sports specialist running global brands for 30 years

Monday 13 July 2026 08:58 Updated: 09:53

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If Checo Perez ever doubted what he was walking into after joining Red Bull, Christian Horner made it very clear, very quickly.

The 36-year-old Mexican - now with Cadillac - spent four highly successful years with the Milton Keynes giants and helped Max Verstappen claim the world title in every single year of his tenure.

The Perez influence on those glory years might be undervalued by some - remember for example how he played the perfect wingman for Verstappen during that controversial Abu Dhabi finale in 2021.

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After that race Verstappen would describe his team-mate as 'an amazing human being', a selfless driver who did whatever was asked to achieve the ultimate team goal. A goal which was always the same thing - Verstappen wins.

Perez had no illusions about his job when he replaced Alex Albon in the second seat at Red Bull for 2021, it was made crystal clear in a very early exchange with his new boss - team principal Horner.

F1 HEADLINES: Horner's 'logical next step' after £75m sacking as Red Bull face fresh setback

It's all about Verstappen

He told the High Performance podcast: "I knew that I was going into Red Bull, a project that was built for Max over the years. When they signed me up it was very clear you know. I knew what I've signed up for.

"First time I met Christian, he told me 'we go racing with two cars because we have to, otherwise we would be super happy just to race with one car. Everything it's for Max, around Max, we want to win the championship."

Perez elaborated on what that really meant when he began work, as he found out that literally every possible advantage and choice went to the other side of the Red Bull garage. He believes it is the toughest job in the sport.

“To face Max at Red Bull is the toughest. Facing Max on any other team is already really tough, but facing him at Red Bull with his team, his people, is tough and you need the best of the best in all areas, and you just don't have it while he has it, all the opportunities in terms of engineering, senior engineering, experienced engineering.

"You know everything goes to Max, but I knew that before I came, and I thought ‘I can either complain or get on with what I’ve got’ and that’s what I did over those four years I was there. I kept my same engineering team, something I’m really proud of.”

Since Perez left at the end of 2024, things have gone south for Red Bull and it is now something of a team in crisis. A galaxy of F1 stars have left the team (Horner, Adrian Newey, Helmut Marko, Jonathan Wheatley, Rob Marshall et al) and now they are struggling to hold onto Verstappen himself.

Checo admits that later in his spell in Milton Keynes there were difficult days, complete with worrying signs of the troubles that lay ahead. After all, history tells us that most great dynasties crumble from within.

Tough times and internal strife

"Of course it turned out to be there were some very tough periods towards the end," he continued.

"The pressure and everyone internally where we had too much success. So people got bored I think and they were fighting each other, all the drama around."

Despite the brutal nature of Checo's role and the pressure cooker atmosphere, Perez is at pains to stress he enjoyed his Red Bull years - he is proud of the role he played in a glorious era of F1 domination.

It is telling that some experts now claim Verstappen would have won a fifth consecutive world title in 2025 had Perez still been in the second car.

"They were fantastic four years. I think I overdelivered and only once I left and they brought in all the other drivers, they realised the job that I've done for them for four years."

'Toxic' end to Red Bull career, and F1 sabbatical

Perez took a one-year sabbatical from F1 when he left Red Bull at the end of 2024, something he felt was badly needed after the way things ended in Milton Keynes. Tellingly, it's something he believes would benefit some of his rivals.

"When I left Red Bull I had to take a year out because mentally was very tiring. You know my last six months at Red Bull were very tough even for me that I'm mentally very strong. They were very very tough and and I would say toxic and I really wanted a break.

"So the the year out came in perfect timing. I didn't know at that time if I wanted to come back. When I left F1, I I really thought like it could be it and I was ready for it."

Written by

Graham Shaw - Consultant Editor

Digital sports leader with 30 years of senior level experience running global brands. Built sportinglife.com to be a behemoth in the UK as well as being in charge of the Planet Sport network of sites including planetf1.com, football365.com, teamtalk.com and planetrugby.com. Then grew goal.com to be the world's biggest soccer website in 18 languages and 37 territories. Was GM of Portals for Perform Group (now DAZN) with overall responsibility for sportingnews.com, spox.de and voetbalzone.nl.

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Red Bull Max Verstappen Christian Horner Sergio Perez