Oracle Red Bull Racing’s team principal, Christian Horner, has praised his team for creating such a competitive car in 2022, despite the team’s focus on winning the championship last season being ‘enormous’.
Horner’s comments come just after Sergio Perez surprised the world with a pole position in the final moments of qualifying, preventing a Scuderia Ferrari one-two. Max Verstappen will start the race on Sunday in fourth place, behind the two Ferrari cars.
“I am just so pleased for Checo, it is 11 years tomorrow after his F1 debut and 215 starts is simply incredible, he’s working harder than ever and that lap was fantastic. The Ferraris put down such a competitive marker and for Checo to put in a lap like that at this circuit was unbelievable,” Horner claimed.
“Max struggled with grip in Q3 and could not attack the corners as much as he wanted, but starting from fourth he’s still very much in contention.”
Horner continued, “Ferrari are impressive and their car is so competitive, they started early on this project last year, so for us to have Checo on pole and Max up there on the second row in race two, after such an enormous effort last season, is a real testament to the hard work of the entire team.”
Perez will be hoping to take victory at Saudi Arabia tomorrow to make up for retiring on lap fifteen last year due to race-ending contact with a Ferrari. A clean race is exactly what Red Bull need in order to score some crucial world championship points.
