Red Bull team boss Christian Horner has addressed the different performances of his drivers Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen during qualifying for the Mexican Grand Prix. While Verstappen managed a commendable front row start despite setbacks, Perez had significant problems and suffered an exit from Q1.

Perez will start his home race from eighteenth place on the grid. Commenting on his performance after training, the Mexican rider said:

“Very difficult, very difficult to stop the car. I just couldn’t get on top. I couldn’t stop the car fast enough and simply put too much energy into braking the tires. That was the main problem.” For me.

“It was very similar to the rest of the weekend. I just can’t stop the car and I’m having a lot of trouble with the part of the phase where I slow down. It’s a bit similar to Austin where I just can’t attack from the corners to the braking, and there’s a lot of that here.”

Horner, who recently reiterated that both Perez and Verstappen need to be at their best to fight for the constructors’ championship, reflected on Perez’s disappointment in Mexico qualifying.

“He said he had problems with the car. When braking and entering corners. So of course there is a big difference between the time in the two cars. That was very disappointing for him, especially in front of his house. “But I’m sure he’ll give it his all tomorrow,” said Horner.

Horner dismissed the idea that it could be due to the pressure of his home race, adding:

“I think he’s usually pretty good in those circumstances. But look, he will be more disappointed with his performance today than anyone else, so hopefully he can have a better race tomorrow.”

On the other side of the Red Bull pit, Verstappen was able to secure a front row start from second place despite a lack of training time. Horner commented:

“I think he did a great job. Considering he lost most of yesterday, he is on the back foot today and in order to qualify for the front row there was a lot of pressure on the last lap due to the track restrictions on the first lap.” Round 3 .

“Of course you hope desperately that there won’t be a yellow flag, but he delivered and made it to the front row. I have to congratulate Carlos. He was very fast all weekend and two laps were good enough for pole. So he’ll be hard to beat tomorrow, but I’m happy to be in the front row.”