Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner has offered a glowing assessment of the performance of his drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez over the first half of the 2022 F1 season. With Verstappen having a commanding 80-point lead at the top of the Drivers' Championship, and Red Bull sitting 97 points clear of Ferrari at the head of the Constructors' standings, all appears to be going smoothly at the Milton Keynes-based squad, and Horner is full of praise for his drivers' efforts. Having won the 2021 Drivers' Championship in contentious circumstances, Verstappen has eight wins from 13 races so far in 2022, and Horner talked up the Dutchman's "phenomenal" performances this year. "I think he's still evolving as a driver, and he's still young and gaining experience," Horner told RacingNews365.com in an exclusive interview. "And I think he's really driven at a phenomenal level, both last year and so far this year, and you can see him using that experience to good effect now."
Horner: Perez is more at home in 2022
Red Bull's other driver Perez also had a strong first half of 2022, winning the Monaco Grand Prix, taking pole position in Jeddah, and finishing second on five occasions. The Mexican is now in his second year at Red Bull, and Horner noted that Perez had got closer to Verstappen as he felt more at home at the drinks-backed outfit. "I think Checo's made a great step forward," said Horner. "He's been much closer in qualifying than during last year. The pole position in Jeddah was an outstanding lap. "His victory in Monaco, the 1-2 finishes that we've achieved in Spain and Azerbaijan, his race at Silverstone and the wheel-to-wheel racing… By and large, he's had a very strong first half of the campaign. "I think, this year, the team feels much more like home for him, compared to when he was the new boy last year. He's adapting well to that. "He's had a bit of bad luck on a couple of occasions, but that always evens itself out over the course of a season."
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