Christian Horner urges Sergio Perez: "We need two drivers firing on all cylinders"

Red Bull boss Christian Horner has urged Sergio Perez to up his game following a disappointing Singapore Grand Prix, declaring “we need two drivers firing on all cylinders”.

Perez could only finish 10th in Sunday’s race at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, capping off a difficult weekend for the Mexican.

The Red Bull driver failed to make Q3 and spent most of the first half of the race stuck behind Franco Colapinto.

It was a similar story in the second half of the race for Perez, who couldn’t get past Nico Hulkenberg.

Reflecting on Perez’s race, Horner told media in Singapore: “Checo, he was stuck around Hulkenberg for basically 30 laps. Yeah, I mean, Checo had a good first lap. He qualified out of position, and then he just really struggled to overtake.

“He was struggling a little for traction in the areas where you want the traction out of Turn 3 and onto the back straight. But, yeah, you know, that was what he could manage today.”

Red Bull slipped further behind McLaren in the constructors’ championship.

McLaren are now 41 points ahead with six rounds to go.

Unsurprisingly, Horner wants more from Perez.

“I think that we need to have two drivers firing on all cylinders,” he added.

“Checo had a good weekend last weekend. He had a tough weekend this weekend. We need to put some weekends together where you can see where McLaren are putting two drivers on the podium. It’s those big points that really make a difference.

“So, you know, we need to make sure that Checo goes as far off the field as we can get it, in terms of finding the right direction.”

It was a better weekend for Max Verstappen, who finished second behind dominant race winner Lando Norris.