Horner sees big gap between Verstappen and Perez: 'Hopefully less pressure now'

While Max Verstappen led from start to finish almost as a matter of course at the Spanish Grand Prix, Sunday went more laboriously for Sergio Perez. Christian Horner praised the Mexican for his fourth-place finish and hopes the pressure is now off his shoulders a little.

Horner is pleased with the performance of Perez, who had to come from far away. Red Bull Racing's prediction was that a mistake-free race would see him come back to P5, but that ended up being P4. "I felt that maybe the Ferrari would have better race pace than it had," the team boss explained to GPblog and others. However, Ferrari fell short of competing for the top positions.

"The fact that he was getting within a couple of seconds of the podium as well at the end there and hunting down George. It was a very good recovery, particularly the second half of the race for Checo. I think that will give him a lot of confidence coming out of this," Horner continued. "He's had a difficult Monaco, a difficult Saturday here, a stronger Sunday."

One positive Horner takes from Perez's performance has everything to do with the pressure the Mexican is feeling to beat Verstappen in the championship. "I think that looking at the gap now between the two drivers, which is pretty significant, in many respects that will take pressure off his shoulders. I think that will allow him to relax, not put pressure on himself and just refine the form that he had in those early races."