While newly-crowned three-time world ♐champion Verstappen dominated the Qatar Grand Prix to record his 14th win from 17 ra😼ces this season,  Perez finished 10th - over 80 seconds behind his teammate - after picking up three five-second time penalties. 

Red Bull team principal Horner described Perez’s latest ༒difficult wee♕kend as “horrible”, with the Mexican leaving Qatar 208 points behind Verstappen. 

“I t♐hink with a car like we have, he's probably putting that pressure on himself,” Horner said. 

“The most important thing for us is winning both [drivers’ and teams’] chaꦐmpionships. We've done that.

“And 💛then, wha🦩t's the next best thing after that would be to have both your drivers first and second.

“You can see Mercedes haꦫve a pair, McLaren have a pair, Ferrari have a pair that are quite tight between the respective drivers.

“I tౠhink we've had that at the earlier point in the year. B⛦ut as the season has gone on it's become more variant.

“We just need to get Checo🦩 back to the best form that he's capable of.”

And Horner conceded Perez, who is undꩲer contract for 2024, must raise his performance level with the likes of McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari starting to bridge the gap. 

“The frustration is that we kn🐷ow what Checo has been capable of doing,” heꦐ explained. 

“Of course, last year and this year, he's coꦕntributed significantly to the constructors’ championship. We desperately want him to find that form and as a ꩵteam; we need him to.

“We can't afford t💎o have a big split because if, as you would expect, the grid continues to concertina next year, we need both drivers delivering at the top of the game.”