Christian Horner's muddled response when asked about regretting Carlos Sainz decision

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner gave an unclear response when asked if he regretted not signing Carlos Sainz earlier in the season. The Spaniard was reportedly in conversation with the team after Ferrari announced his replacement for 2025, but Red Bull did not sign him and extended Sergio Perez's contract.

However, given Perez's inconsistent and subpar performances that also saw the team drop to third place in the Constructors' Championship during the season, RBR decided to drop him and replace him with Liam Lawson for 2025. Meanwhile, Sainz is set to move to Williams Racing, partnering with Alex Albon.

It is understandable that Sainz would have been a strong choice for Red Bull if they were ultimately going to sack Perez. Now that he isn't available to drive for them, Christian Horner was asked by Sky Sports if he regretted not signing him. He answered that there were a lot of different dynamics when the team initially extended Perez's contract.

"I think Carlos is a great driver and we've seen that," Christian Horner said. "Obviously this year, it's sometimes, you know, you've got to look at all the various criteria and dynamics and the point that we extended Checo's contract. You have to remember that he was second in the World Championship and, you know, finishing on podiums in the first four out of five races."

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Christian Horner explains why Red Bull chose Liam Lawson over Yuki Tsunoda

Yuki Tsunoda debuted in F1 with AlphaTauri in the 2021 season and has been racing with the Red Bull junior team since (now called VCARB). It is no secret that drivers only stay with the junior team to ultimately be promoted to the seat at RBR (alongside Max Verstappen, as it has been for a few years now).

Tsunoda and Liam Lawson were the candidates to replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull, as Horner had previously revealed. Despite his consistent improvement over the seasons and experience, the team did not choose Tsunoda but instead went with Lawson. Interestingly, the 22-year-old has never driven a complete season for the team. He was a part-time driver in 2023 when Daniel Ricciardo was out because of an injury and replaced him mid-season in 2024.

Defending his move promoting Lawson with much less experience, Christian Horner explained that he achieved much more in a shorter period of time.

"Well, Yuki has done four years with our sister team, and he’s a driver that’s growing in experienced and doing a good job," he told talkSport. "I think that what we felt in Liam in what he’s achieved in such a short space of time, the trajectory that he’s on looks really promising."

He further explained that the Japanese driver might be an option for the future, however, the current time period was fitting for Liam Lawson instead.

"That doesn’t rule Yuki out for the future. It’s just that at this juncture in time, we believe that Liam has got the right characteristics, the right strength of character to deal with the pressure that comes with being Max Verstappen’s teammate."

Christian Horner and Red Bull Racing are expecting to improve their performance in the 2025 season. Although Max Verstappen won the Drivers' World Championship, the team suffered an overall lack of performance in the later stages of the season. Moreover, with Adrian Newey no longer present, they would have to plan well for the future as he had been the master of their cars' design through the years.