Red Bull chose Perez and not Sainz: a mistake by Horner in hindsight?

However, Christian Horner would not say whether he regrets not offering Sainz a contract, who has been replaced at Ferrari in favour of Lewis Hamilton: "I think Carlos is a great driver and we've seen that obviously this year. Sometimes, you've got to look at all the various criteria and dynamics and at the point that we extended Checo's contract, you have to remember that he was second in the world championship, and was finishing on podiums in the first four out of five races."

In other words: it was a conscious decision not to go for Sainz and then sign a new contract with Perez. After the signatures were made, the Mexican's performance went downhill, missing out on the constructors' title. A missed opportunity, it seems. However, Horner doesn't want to think too much about that.

Horner names crucial point on Perez's departure

'Could have been, should have been'. They are wordings Horner can do little with: "When you look back, there's always hindsight, McLaren did a great job. At the end of the day, we won more races. We won nine races. We had the most poles. We won four sprint races, which is more than any other team. And we won the driver's championship with two races to go."

But what ultimately cost Perez: "So, unfortunately, we had a 280-point deficit between our drivers. And of course, that became quite expensive in terms of the constructors' championship," Horner concluded.

This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy

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