Horner: Who would you change Perez for? Who would you put in?

Despite Perez's dip in form, Horner dismissed suggestions that Red Bull would replace him with Daniel Ricciardo or Yuki Tsunoda, emphasizing that the team still believes in the Mexican's ability to deliver results.

Max Verstappen has been leading Red Bull's charge, almost single-handedly, as Perez has found it increasingly difficult to come to terms with the car. With rival teams like Mercedes closing the gap, Perez’s recent performance has come under scrutiny, having scored only 28 points in the past eight races. However, Horner is confident that Perez can bounce back.

Speaking on the first day of the Dutch Grand Prix weekend, Horner addressed the speculation surrounding Perez’s future with the team.

"We have the best two drivers in this car, and if we felt there was something better, we would have changed it by now," said a defiant Horner. "We believe what we have is capable of defending the championship. It came first and second in last year’s championship, first and third the year before, and won in 2021 as well."

Horner acknowledged that Perez is under immense pressure, particularly from media scrutiny and social media criticism, but insisted that Red Bull is doing everything possible to support him.

He added: "We are trying our hardest to give Sergio the chance to rediscover that form. He has to deal with the pressure and the media and the social media pile-on off the back of that. He is a driver capable of bouncing back, and we are giving him our full support. We want to see him respond."

When pressed on why Red Bull hasn’t made a change, Horner challenged the notion of replacing Perez, he questioned: "Well, who would you put in? Who would you change him for?

"We know what Checo’s capable of. At the beginning of the year, he had four podiums in five races. I think he’s just lacking confidence and has ended up in a bit of a spiral. I think he’s had a bit of a reset hopefully over the summer break."

Horner also pointed out Perez's success at upcoming tracks, suggesting that the driver could soon return to form.

"We know that there’s tracks that he’s won at coming up," he pointed out. "We’ve got Azerbaijan where he’s won both a Sprint and Grand Prix on the same weekend. He’s won a fantastic race in Singapore against Charles Leclerc in mixed conditions. He’s been very quick at Monza. Zandvoort hasn’t been his best circuit, so of the four races coming up before the next mini-break, I would say this is his most challenging one."

When asked if it was crucial to keep Perez until after the Mexican driver's home race in late October, Horner was unequivocal: "No. Absolutely not. It’s all about performance. For us, we’ve got the two drivers that we believe in our pool of drivers are the most capable of giving us the best results. If there was a doubt in that, then we would have changed it."

As the season progresses, all eyes will be on Perez to see if he can recapture the form that made him a vital part of Red Bull's championship-winning campaigns. At Zandvoort on Friday, Verstappen ended the day with the fifth-best time, Perez was down in P12, six-tenths down on his RBR teammate.