Former Alpine team boss Otmar Szafnauer knows which driver he would put next to Max Verstappen in 2025 if he were Red Bull Racing team boss Christian Horner. The Romanian-American former team boss also looks back on how his collaboration with Sergio Pérez went at Racing Point, and praises the Mexican for his racing skills.
Pérez is currently in the final year of his current Red Bull contract, and the Mexican is not yet sure whether he will still be allowed to drive for the Austrian team in 2025. There are therefore many rumors going around in the paddock as to whether Pérez will be allowed to stay on next year, and if not, who will replace the Mexican. Former team boss Szafnauer knows what he would do if he were Red Bull team boss Christian Horner.
‘I was in Abu Dhabi two days ago for this Formula 1 event and David Coulthard was with me on the podium. The question was: If you were Christian Horner, who would you replace Checo (Pérez, ed.)?’ says Szafnauer, according to the British Daily Mail. “And I said, knowing Checo as well as I do, that I would replace Checo with Checo. If I were Christian, I’d keep him there next year.’
Szafnauer: ‘Verstappen won the first world championship partly because of Pérez’
Szafnauer also immediately explains why he would keep Pérez as a Red Bull driver in 2025. “Let’s not forget that the year that Max (Verstappen, ed.) won his first championship was partly thanks to Checo,” the former Alpine team boss refers to the race in Abu Dhabi in 2021. Pérez knew Lewis Hamilton during that race long enough so that Verstappen could close the gap to the Brit. ‘But don’t just look at that last race (in Abu Dhabi in 2021, ed.), look at all the other races that also counted towards victory that year. And during that year was when he was nicknamed Minister of Defense in Mexico.”
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The former Formula 1 team boss admits that Pérez has also had some dips in form, but still thinks that the Mexican is the best candidate for the Red Bull seat next to Verstappen in 2025. ‘He has had a number of lows. But from what I can see this year, apart from a few races where I thought he should have finished a little higher, he’s doing it.”
Pérez never starred in qualifying
The man from Guadalajara is no stranger to Szafnauer, because the Romanian American was previously Pérez’s team boss at Racing Point. Szafnauer therefore knows exactly what the Red Bull driver’s strengths are. ‘Checo’s strength has always been racing skills. He’s never been great at qualifying. There haven’t been many times when he’s worked for me and I’m like, Why did you do that in a race? “I can only remember one time, in Singapore, when he got frustrated and hit a Williams, but the rest of the time he was very good at overtaking without making mistakes.”
