Horner: Now the time for Perez to spend with family, reflect on future

Perez struggled for performance in 2024 despite starting strongly with four podiums in the first five races, and as a result, with Red Bull suffering from his inability to score points and losing the constructors' championship, decided to let him go.

The announcement was made a week after the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which turned out to be the Mexican's last race with Red Bull.

Speaking to Sky Sports F1, Horner said: "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.

"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," the Briton maintained.

One of the complications in the Perez/Red Bull split was sorting out the legalities, as the team had given their driver a two-year contract extension earlier in 2024, hoping that would put him at ease about his future and help him focus on his performance.

Horner explained: "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.

"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."

As for the reasons behind Perez's struggles, Horner reflected: "I think that’s the thing, I think that he’s not really quite sure. 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," he lamented.

Asked whether moving Perez to VCARB was an option, Horner responded: "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," he concluded.

Perez was replaced by Liam Lawson, who in turn was replaced by Isack Hadjar at VCARB, the latter now a teammate to Yuki Tsunoda, who ended up as the biggest loser in Red Bull's recent game of musical chairs.