Christian Horner hints at Red Bull regret over early Sergio Perez contract
Christian Horner suggests error in handing Sergio Perez early contract, writes Lewis Larkam in Abu Dhabi.
Red Bull F1 team principal Christian Horner has admitted giving Sergio Perez an early contract extension this season “didn’t work”.
Back in June, Red Bull handed Perez a fresh two-year contract covering the 2025 and 2026 seasons, but the Mexican’s continued run of poor form has seen his future be under the spotlight for several months.
Having failed to arrest his slide and scoring just 152 of Red Bull’s 581 points this year, which has played a big role in the team slipping to third place in the constructors’ championship, Perez now looks set to lose his drive for next season.
“Obviously at the time, Sergio was performing extremely well,” Horner told media including Crash.net on Friday.
“He had four podiums in the first five races, and, in order to settle his mind and extend that run of form for the rest of the season, we elected to go early, which obviously didn't work. That’s just life sometimes.
“I think with Checo you have to look beyond this year for the contribution that he's made to our team. He's been a great team player. He's a great person. He's extremely popular within the team.
“He's worked very hard over the four years that he's been with us and he's played a vital role in the Constructors' Championships that we've won, the five Grand Prix victories that he had in our car.
“It's been the most successful pairing that we've ever had finishing first and second in the Drivers' Championship last year. So I think nobody more is frustrated with the results than Checo, from his own high standards.
“That's obviously been painful for him, for the team. We’ve worked tremendously hard to try and support him and we'll continue to do so all the way up until the chequered flag on Sunday, where hopefully he can get a good result at the final race of the year.”
Red Bull have 'tremendous' options
Liam Lawson, who currently races for Red Bull’s sister team RB, is viewed as the favourite to replace Perez and partner Max Verstappen, while Formula 2 championship contender Isack Hadjar could fill Lawson’s vacated seat at RB.
“We're fortunate that we've got a tremendous pool of talent,” Horner said.
“It was good to see Isack Hadjar getting a run out as well in free practice there. We've got two talented drivers in VCARB.
“But until the situation is clear with Sergio and what he wants to do, everything else is purely speculation.”
Perez has been linked to an ambassadorial role for Red Bull, meaning he would remain under contract but would vacate his F1 drive.
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