Horner satisfied: "He’s really grabbing this opportunity with both hands"

Sergio Perez has made his first metres in the Red Bull cars in recent days in preparation for the upcoming season. For the veteran driver it has been both exciting and a little familiar, as the Mexican has been in the Formula One paddock for years. Nevertheless, the days have been valuable to him, says Christian Horner.

"I think he’s settling in very well," Horner told Formula1.com. "Obviously he’s been around for a while, he’s a popular member of the paddock and you can see why. He’s an easy guy to get along with, he’s doing all his homework, he’s been working hard over the winter. He’s really grabbing this opportunity with both hands."

His experience helps, of course, but Perez also knows he needs to do a good job given he has a very strong teammate. Alexander Albon failed to get close to Verstappen, so now Perez will have to do it in order to push Red Bull Racing even further forward. In that context, every metre on the counter is valuable.

Horner: "I think for Checo, after having driven for one team for so long, inevitably there’s going to be a lot of differences, just in procedure, to the way we operate,” added Horner. “So any mileage that we’ve been able to give him is of huge value as he gets to know his engineering team, how our machines work, how our meetings work, what’s required of him as a Red Bull driver. So I think it’s been invaluable these last couple of days for him."