Watch: Christian Horner apologizes to Sergio Perez after a disastrous race for Red Bull

After what turned out to be a devastating race for Red Bull, team principal Christian Horner apologized to Sergio Perez for the team's shortcomings.

The 2024 F1 Australian GP turned out to be the first race in two years when Max Verstappen did not finish. This happened owing to a mechanical failure on the third lap. After his early retirement, RBR's hopes were set on his teammate Sergio Perez.

However, the start of Perez's race wasn't too cheerful, either. Due to a three-place grid penalty for impeding during qualifying, he started the race from P6. Although he had a consistent drive and managed to finish P5, it was far from what the team was expecting given the competitiveness of the RB20.

Post-race, Perez told his team that "nothing worked" during the race, and the team "died" every stint. Horner was then witnessed apologizing to him.

Here is the clip of the same:

The race ended with a Ferrari 1-2 as Carlos Sainz took the victory, followed by his teammate Charles Leclerc. The former is the only non-Red Bull driver since the start of the 2023 season to win a Grand Prix.

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Is Sergio Perez in a better position with Helmut Marko's comments on RB drivers?

This is the final year of Sergio Perez's contract with Red Bull Racing. He was signed by the team in the 2021 season and drove very well during that period. Recently, however, his performance seemed to have taken a hit, especially during the mid-season in 2023.

Despite his teammate Max Verstappen dominating almost all of the races, the Mexican was extremely slow on some tracks. This led to speculation that the team might not want to re-sign him after the 2024 season, and junior drivers were thought to be potential replacements. Currently, both RB drivers Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo are speculated to be among the choices for the team, but nothing has been confirmed.

Amidst this, Red Bull's advisor Dr Helmut Marko stated that the RB drivers are "too slow," and if they are "hoping" for a seat at Red Bull, one needs to be faster than the other. He recently told Sky Germany:

"There's a lot at stake for [Tsunoda and Ricciardo]. Both might be hoping for a seat at Red Bull, and one should be well ahead of the other. So far Ricciardo is a bit behind. But let's put it this way: Tsunoda's qualifying speed is OK. But in the race, both are too slow."

This statement might provide a cushion to Sergio Perez for now as he is seemingly the faster driver compared to the other two, who have scored a combined four points this year. His performance in the first two rounds of the 2024 F1 season was competitive and shines a light on a brighter future for him.

Still, there are going to be major moves at the end of this season. Lewis Hamilton will replace Carlos Sainz at Ferrari, and the latter is not tied up with any teams so far. RBR would have certainly taken note of his win in Melbourne today.