Horner rues Red Bull’s decision to extend Perez’s contract early on

Reflecting on Red Bull’s decision to extend Sergio Perez’s contract at the start of the current season, the Milton Keynes-based outfit’s team boss Christian Horner has acknowledged that it has been a mistake.

Having struggled for pure pace in the majority of the qualifying sessions this year, Sergio Perez’s future at Red Bull has been hanging in the balance for long months.

The Guadalajara-born driver joined Red Bull in 2021, and helped his team-mate Max Verstappen win his first championship title that year, playing a pivotal role at the title-deciding 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

However, he has failed to deliver a consistent performance over the last couple of years. Perez has won five races with Red Bull, and finished second in the Drivers’ Championship last year, but he has endured periods during which he simply struggled for outright pace in qualifying.

After a strong start to the the 2024 season, Red Bull elected to extend his contract by a further two years which would see Perez race for the Milton Keynes-based outfit until at least the end of the 2026 F1 season. However, the Mexican struggled for pace after his contract extension.

Asked why Red Bull elected to extend Perez’s contract so early in the season, Horner has acknowledged that it was a mistake as it did not work in the way the team had hoped for.

“Well, obviously at the time, Sergio was performing extremely well. I think 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. So, that’s just life sometimes.

“And I think 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, yeah, 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.

“And that’s obviously been painful for him, for the team and we’ve worked tremendously hard to try and support him and we’ll continue to do so,” Horner concluded.