Horner explains why Red Bull didn’t move for Sainz when he was on the market

Christian Horner has given an insight into why Red Bull opted against trying to sign Carlos Sainz when the Spaniard found himself on the driver market last year, with the Milton Keynes squad choosing instead to extend Sergio Perez’s contract at the time.

Sainz entered the 2024 campaign knowing that it would be his last with Ferrari, following the seismic news during the pre-season that Lewis Hamilton had signed to the Scuderia for 2025 where he would partner Charles Leclerc.

READ MORE: Leclerc lists areas where Sainz has helped him improve as he hails 'incredible team mate'

This left the 30-year-old looking for another seat, with speculation mounting for several months over his next destination. It was eventually confirmed at the end of July that Sainz would join Williams on a multi-year deal, despite interest from other teams including Sauber/Audi and Alpine.

Red Bull, meanwhile, had initially looked to have no vacancies in 2025, given that Max Verstappen is locked in through to the end of 2028 while Perez was given a contract extension in June following a decent start to the season.

The Mexican struggled for form, however, as the year progressed, resulting in an agreement being reached between himself and the team once the campaign had concluded to part ways with immediate effect.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1 following the news of Perez’s departure, Horner was asked if he now regretted not moving for Sainz when the four-time race winner became available, leading the Team Principal to explain how certain factors contributed to the squad’s driver decisions at the time.

“I think Carlos is a great driver and we’ve seen that obviously this year,” Horner conceded.

READ MORE: Magnussen explains how he could have ended up alongside Verstappen at Red Bull as he reflects on moments that changed his path

“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 he was second in the world championship and finishing on podiums in the first four out of five races.”

Perez ended the 2024 season down in eighth place of the drivers’ championship, with a deficit of 285 points to team mate Verstappen in what was the Dutchman’s fourth consecutive title-winning campaign.

This saw Red Bull slip from first to third in the battle for the constructors’ crown, a prize that ultimately went to McLaren. In terms of whether he feels that his team should have won that championship – and if that had been influential in Perez leaving – Horner responded: “I think there’s ‘should’ve, could’ve, would’ve’ when you look back.

“There’s always hindsight, I think 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 drivers’ championship with two races to go.

READ MORE: Horner opens up on Perez’s exit from Red Bull as he says it was Mexican’s decision to ‘take time out’

“Unfortunately we had a 280-point deficit between our drivers, and of course that became quite expensive in terms of the constructors’ championship.”

Red Bull confirmed one day after Perez’s departure was announced that Liam Lawson would make the step up to become Verstappen’s new team mate in 2025, having impressed during his two super-sub stints for the Racing Bulls outfit.

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