Christian Horner has given a further insight into Sergio Perez’s exit from Red Bull, with the team boss stating that the Mexican came to the decision to step away himself as he takes time to reflect on his next steps.
Speculation had been building over Perez’s position at the Milton Keynes outfit for some time after what proved to be a challenging campaign, the 34-year-old having suffered a downturn in form as the season progressed despite a strong start.
ANALYSIS: Perez had a contract for 2025 – so why has his Red Bull journey come to an end now?
While the team had handed him a two-year contract extension back in June, it was confirmed after the season had concluded that Perez and Red Bull had reached an agreement to part ways with immediate effect, whilst Liam Lawson will make the step up from RB to become Max Verstappen’s team mate in 2025.
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after Perez’s departure had been announced, Horner was asked about the difficult internal discussion that the six-time race winner must have had within himself regarding the situation.
“Yeah, absolutely,” Horner responded. “Checo, he’s been a fantastic member of this team. It’s been a tough year for him but he’s a great person and of course [he] played such a key role in the ’21 drivers’ championship, ’22 and ’23 constructors’.
“He was second in the drivers’ world championship last year, he’s won five Grands Prix in our cars. But he reflected after the season and we sat down and discussed it last week about what are the next steps, and he’s decided that he’s going to take a bit of time out.
Perez enjoyed a strong start to the 2024 campaign but endured a tougher time as the season progressed
“We’re sad to see him leave the team, but obviously it’s time for him to spend with his young family as well and reflect on what he wants to do for the future.”
Pushed on whether the decision to sign a new deal earlier in the year had been taken with the intention of boosting the Mexican’s self-confidence, Horner explained: “Yes, of course. At the time we signed it he’d had four podiums in five races, so it was a logical extension just to remove speculation, of which there was already too much around the team.
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“And of course any contract has certain performances clauses and criteria within it, so it didn’t make any difference to this decision of Sergio’s to step away and take a sabbatical.”
Perez ended the 2024 season down in eighth of the drivers’ championship – 285 points adrift of title-winning team mate Verstappen – while Red Bull ultimately lost out on the constructors’ crown, having slipped back to third behind McLaren and Ferrari.
Reflecting on whether Perez had an understanding of why he had struggled as the campaign developed, Horner suggested that the reason behind it was still unclear.
Perez was unable to match the performance level of Verstappen, with the points deficit between the two ending up at 285 points
“I think that’s the thing, I think that he’s not really quite sure,” the Team Principal said. “Of course the car became more narrow in its performance window and he struggled with that compared to Max.
“But obviously [with] such an enormous gulf in points difference between the two drivers, he was struggling with that, and that of course then puts more pressure on him and the harder you try sometimes the slower you go, and it became almost like a vicious circle for him.
“There were flashes of old form in Azerbaijan, but unfortunately that didn’t translate into points. It’s been a hugely frustrating campaign for him, and of course that’s hurt us quite badly in the constructors’ championship.”
And when quizzed on whether there had been any discussions over the possibility of him moving to sister team RB – a switch that the team previously carried out with the likes of Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly – Horner conceded: “I think at the stage that Checo’s at in his career that wouldn’t really have been an option.
“For him it was nothing that we really ever discussed or we didn’t discuss or even talk about. He’s come to this decision now and obviously we support it fully.”
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