Horner on Red Bull loyalty toward Checo: 'Easy to look with hindsight'
Red Bull Contentpool
F1 News
- Ludo van Denderen
In the end, Red Bull Racing decided to replace Sergio Perez, after months of disappointing performances. It had been Christian Horner in particular who had long held the Mexican's hand, but in the end had no choice but to put Liam Lawson alongside Max Verstappen in 2025.
With Perez in the car, Red Bull Racing finished 'only' third in the constructors' championship. Critics believe that Verstappen's teammate could have been sidelined earlier, in order to still gain the necessary points to have a serious chance of winning that title.
Horner, however, thinks that reasoning is far too simple. "It’s always easy to look with hindsight, and it’s impossible to know what anybody else would have done in that car," team boss Christian Horner told PlanetF1.com.
Horner still positive about Perez
Not for the first time, the Brit then explained that Perez had started last season strongly, but he also admitted that the decline was too great. All in all, Horner still looked back positively on the Perez era at Red Bull.
"Look at what Sergio has done for us over the last four years," he said. "He finished second in the world championship in 2023 and he’s won five races in our car and played a key role in the Constructors’ Championships in 2022 and ’23."
"He played an important role in the ’21 Drivers’ Championship as well. So there was a loyalty to try and really help Checo. But, unfortunately, it didn’t materialise."
This article was written in collaboration with Norberto Mujica.
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