While newly-crowned three-time world champion Verstappen dominated the Qatar Grand Prix to record his 14th win from 17 races this season,  Perez finished 10th - over 80 seconds behind his teammate - after picking up th൩ree five-ಌsecond time penalties. 

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

“I think with a car like we have, he's probably pu🍨tting that pressure on hi𒀰mself,” Horner said. 

“The most important ꦫthing for us is winning both [drive♛rs’ and teams’] championships. We've done that.

“And then, what's the next best thing after that would be to have both your drivers first aไnd second.

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

“I think we've had that at the earlier point in the year. But 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 under contract for 2024, must raise his performance level with the likes ♏of McLaren, Mercedes an෴d Ferrari starting to bridge the gap. 

“The frustration is that🐲 we know what Checo has been capable of doing,” he explained. 

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

“We can't afford to have a big𒁏 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.”