Max Verstappen has been driving at a level that nobody could match even in the same car, Christian Horner has claimed.
The Dutchman was the runaway champion this season. With the help of a Red Bull car which has so often been a cut above the rest in terms of performance, he has been largely untouchable – winning 15 of the 22 races held.
His team-mate Sergio Perez managed a couple of wins of his own but was most often beaten by Verstappen. And, in the final race of the season, he lost out to Charles Leclerc in his bid to finish second in the championship.
Team boss Horner is not surprised, and claimed there might not be a single driver on the grid who could match the double champion. "I think Max is operating at a level that I'm not sure anybody – with the way he's driving at the moment – in the same equipment would be able to repeat what he's done this year," he told reporters.
Perez lost to Leclerc in the final race of the season, and missed out on the chance to secure Red Bull's first ever one-two finish as a result. Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto later revealed that his team had purposely bluffed Red Bull into making the pit stop decision which ultimately cost Perez second place.
While it wasn't the result he wanted, Horner believes the Mexican will have learned a lot in his most successful season in F1, which can help him going forward. "I think you've got to look at the season on a whole and I think, when you look at it, both Charles and Checo will be ruing opportunities missed," he added.
"[There were] probably quite a few more for Charles than there [were] for Checo. You've got to look at it as a performance over a year, not over an individual race, and Checo's had the best year that he's ever had in Formula 1.
"He won the Monaco Grand Prix, his drive at Singapore was outstanding – [it] was the best Grand Prix I've seen him drive. I think he'll take a huge amount of positives. It's the first time he's finished in the top three in this championship, and again, I think he'll take many lessons out of this year."
After losing out to Leclerc, Perez vowed to do better in 2023. He said: "That's how it is sometimes, everything can be really close. But at the end of the day, I'm happy – I gave it all, the team gave it all through the season and I'm sure we will come back stronger for next year."
