Christian Horner ‘actually wanted’ to sign ‘very, very good’ driver over Sergio Perez at Red Bull

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When Formula 1 action begins again on Friday at the beginning of Free Practice 1 at Zandvoort, two drivers will be under the microscope more than anyone else.

The first will be Max Verstappen as he returns home for the Dutch Grand Prix and looks to end a four-race stint without a victory.

The other driver is his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez who narrowly survived being dropped by the team over the summer break.

Christian Horner shared the news with Red Bull’s factory that Perez had been retained but the wording was carefully chosen.

It turns out that Perez may only have four races left to save his Red Bull seat before the next significant break in races where the team could make a change.

READ MORE: Red Bull driver Sergio Perez’s life outside F1 from net worth to nickname

Speaking on ams.F1’s YouTube channel, journalist Michael Schmidt has shared what he’s heard about Horner’s initial thoughts about the Red Bull line-up.

There are arguably more internal politics at Red Bull than any other team on the grid although having four cars to manage may play into that.

Perez’s difficulties have created plenty of speculation about just how long he’ll last and which driver in their current roster could replace him.

However, Schmidt believes that if it were only up to Horner, he would have hired Carlos Sainz to partner Max Verstappen.

The Spanish driver was a free agent for next season after losing his Ferrari seat to Lewis Hamilton.

It appears as though the decision to bring in the three-time race winner may have been taken out of his hands, but it could cost Red Bull Racing the Constructors’ Championship.

READ MORE: Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz’s life outside F1 from full name, girlfriend and height

Christian Horner wanted to partner Max Verstappen with Carlos Sainz

Asked about the speculation that already surrounded Sainz returning to Red Bull, Schmidt said: “At the beginning, Horner actually wanted it to be Verstappen and Sainz.

“But he also noticed that this wasn’t going down well with the Verstappen camp because there was a dispute from the old days at Toro Rosso.

“It was just a matter of keeping Verstappen happy and carrying on as before.

“It worked just quite well, you couldn’t afford to replace Verstappen with Sainz for very clear reasons.

“So Sainz is a very, very good racing driver, but he’s not at the level of Verstappen.”

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Red Bull Racing from engine to Ford links

Keeping Max Verstappen happy is the priority for Red Bull

Verstappen will almost certainly win the Drivers’ Championship for a fourth consecutive season although the gap has closed to the rest of the field.

With Perez having plenty of difficulties this year, it’s even more important for Red Bull to make sure Verstappen is at the top of his game.

Therefore, further destabilising a team who are about to lose Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley makes very little sense.

Verstappen’s camp had no interest in a reunion with Sainz and that’s ultimately impacted Horner’s chances of improving his team.

Any of the RB cars or Red Bull juniors would work well alongside the Dutchman as he would still be the clear number one in the team.

Sainz would threaten that and while he’s not quite on the same level as Verstappen, he would definitely back himself to steal a result of two off the multiple world champion.