Eddie Jordan, the former owner of an F1 team, believes that Max Verstappen “put pressure” on Christian Horner, the team principal of Red Bull, to keep Sergio Perez instead of pursuing a deal for Carlos Sainz, who is leaving Ferrari.
Max Verstappen’s Influence on Red Bull’s Decision to Keep Perez
PlanetF1.com reported before the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that Perez is likely to be dropped by Red Bull for the 2025 F1 season after a disappointing 2024 performance.
Perez finished 7 places and 285 points behind Verstappen in the Drivers’ standings, and hasn’t reached the podium since the Chinese Grand Prix in April.
Despite Verstappen winning his fourth consecutive Drivers’ Championship in 2024, Perez’s lack of success contributed to Red Bull finishing third in the Constructors’ Championship, with McLaren securing their first teams’ title in 26 years.
Perez, who signed a two-year contract in June, is expected to leave Red Bull before next season, with Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson likely to replace him.
Red Bull’s decision to renew Perez’s contract last summer came even though Sainz, who was told by Ferrari in the winter he would be let go at the end of 2024 to make room for Lewis Hamilton, was available.
Sainz, who came from Red Bull’s driver academy and was Verstappen’s teammate in 2015, struggled to secure a spot with top teams and eventually signed a multi-year deal with Williams in July.
On the “Formula For Success” podcast, Jordan claimed that Verstappen pressured Red Bull’s management to keep Perez instead of signing Sainz.
Jordan said, “I’m embarrassed for Checo, because I like the guy. He’s a smashing person to be with.
“But are you telling me he’s angling and fighting for a place in the team for next year? I would say that it’s not a chance, but I put some blame on the team and I put some blame on Max.
“I know that Max put pressure on Christian. He did not want Carlos Sainz in the car. He wanted Checo in the car, because he knew he could beat him.
“And to be fair, Max has to just think about that a little bit. Christian has to think about that.
“They will deny it, but it’s just my belief that there was a situation where it was easier to keep Checo in the car rather than consider a position where it might be better for the team where they would get a Constructors’ title next year.”
Jordan’s comments followed Verstappen expressing support for Perez during the Abu Dhabi GP weekend, saying Perez had been treated too harshly during the 2024 season.
Verstappen commented on Perez’s future, saying, “This is up to the team.
“I’ve always worked really well with Checo. He’s a great guy, honestly. It’s very rare that you have a teammate like him who has always been very good and just a nice guy to us.
“I work with him every weekend, week in, week out. I find people have been very harsh on him.
“Of course, some weekends maybe could have been better, but sometimes people have been very harsh on him because he’s not an idiot.
“He’s always been regarded as a great driver and it’s been tough, but it’s been tough for everyone in the team because sometimes it was just very difficult to drive.”
Verstappen’s history with Sainz at Toro Rosso has been closely followed, with Red Bull believed to be cautious about bringing the two together again because of their tensions in 2015-16.
A book released last year revealed that tensions between the drivers stemmed from Verstappen and his engineers being given “cart blanche” by Red Bull’s Helmut Marko to make their own strategic decisions, even if it meant ignoring Toro Rosso’s team orders.
The conflict reached its peak at the 2016 Russian Grand Prix, Verstappen’s last race for Toro Rosso before his promotion to Red Bull, when he returned to the track for qualifying before Sainz, going against a pre-arranged team plan. While Verstappen made it to the top 10, Sainz was eliminated after facing traffic during his final run.
The resulting argument with Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost led to several people from Verstappen’s side of the garage, including race engineer Xevi Pujolar, leaving the team. Marko was said to have played a key role in helping Pujolar get a new position at Sauber, where he continues to work as racing director.
