Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has confirmed Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez are “free to race” for this season’s Formula 1 title following the Mexican driver’s stand-out performance across the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend.

Perez clinched victory in both the sprint and grand prix to close the gap on Verstappen at the top of the drivers’ standings to just six points.

Far from being the expected cruise to a third consecutive championship, Verstappen is at least coming under threat for that bid from within his own team given Red Bull’s rivals are tripping over themselves to simply be best of the rest.

“At the moment it’s the two of them,” said Horner. “There’s a slight gap to the rest of the field but there are 19 more races to go and five sprint races, so there’s a huge amount of racing at a whole variety of different circuits.

“It could ebb and flow between the two of them, reliability could be a factor.

“Of course, what we’re more focused on at the moment is building a buffer with both of the drivers because when we get back to Europe, I’m sure there are going to be sizeable upgrades (from their rival teams).

“And, of course, we have a reduced capacity to develop this year, so that’s where our focus is – trying to build a gap.”

Asked whether the duo are free to race, Horner replied: “They were free to race today. All year, so far, they’ve been free to race.”

As to whether that will be the case for the remainder of the year, Horner added: “Yeah, until the team’s interests, if you’re competing against a competitor, becomes bigger than the drivers’ interests.

“But as it is at the moment, they’re free to race.”

With F1 in dire need of a rivalry to prevent the season from petering out, Horner said: “Well, there’s six points between them after four races.

“They’re both competitive drivers, they both want to win, which is why they’re employed by the team. It’s down to what they do on the track.”

‘King of the Streets’ Perez needs “normal track” win

As Horner pointed out, however, Perez now needs to win “on a normal track” if he is to threaten Verstappen’s dominance.

The 33-year-old’s five victories for Red Bull have all been on street tracks – two in Azerbaijan, and one apiece in Monaco, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia.

For his latest, Perez caught a break with the timing of an early safety car after Nyck de Vries clipped a wall in his AlphaTauri after 10 laps.

As then-leader Verstappen had pitted just prior to the incident, Perez was able to pit just after it was deployed, allowing him to take up a lead he never relinquished despite constant pressure from the Dutchman.

It is arguable, however, Perez had the pace to have caught and overtaken Verstappen anyway, even without the safety car as the latter was never within striking distance to attempt a pass.

“Checo is definitely living up to his nickname of ‘King of the Streets’ or whatever his latest docu-series is going to be called,” said Horner. “An incredible weekend by him with obviously winning the sprint race.

“Obviously, he got a little bit lucky with the timing of the safety car, but having got the lead he built close to a four-second lead at one point to control the race.

“He used his opportunity and converted into a great win.

“They were pushing each other hard. I think they were comparing the number of times they touched a wall but we let them push all the way through. That was always the plan going into the race.

“Yes, he got lucky through the safety car but he then had to get on and deliver. You’ve got Max Verstappen behind you. He’s not taking it easy.

“He was able to build up a 3.7-second lead at one point, and all credit to Checo, he drove a great race.”