Guenther Steiner explains why he once wanted to sign Sergio Perez for Haas

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Sergio Perez is set to stay at Red Bull for the remainder of the 2024 season after a decision was made not to replace him after a run of poor results.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner backed Perez to turn around his form at the upcoming races after the summer break, which includes the Azerbaijan Grand Prix where he has historically done well.

Although the Mexican got off to a good start this season with four podiums in the first five races, it has been a tumultuous second half having only contributed 27 points in the last eight races to Red Bull’s total.

Former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner revealed that he tried to convince Perez to join the American team on multiple occasions, one of which could have been in 2020 when he was set to lose his seat to Sebastian Vettel.

Although he might not be an attractive prospect now, Steiner explains why he wanted to sign the Mexican when speaking on the RacingNews365 podcast.

Guenther Steiner explains why he wanted to sign Sergio Perez

Prior to his Red Bull career, Perez was one of the most sought after drivers on the grid because of his performances in the midfield. He ranks inside the all-time top 10 for race starts on 271, after starting his career in 2011 with Sauber.

Steiner believes he would have been a good fit for Haas having brought success to Racing Point (now Aston Martin) at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix.

“I tried to get him a few times or two times for Haas because he’s a good driver. But he’s obviously in this situation now which he cannot overcome,” said Steiner.

“He was a good driver. At the time he was in the team with Nico Hulkenberg and they were the benchmark. He got on with people, which is also important, and he was just a solid driver.

“Maybe he was not a race winner or a championship winner driver, but at Haas you couldn’t go to Lewis Hamilton to ask to come to join. But Checo was one in the midfield who was doing well, which meant he was a potential candidate.”

Sergio Perez survives but his future is in limbo

While Horner has opted to keep the Mexican after the summer break, Perez may only have four more races before Red Bull does opt to replace him.

The team is reportedly considering reverting to an older specification car to help Perez improve his current form, after Red Bull engineeers identified why he is struggling compared to Max Verstappen.

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

Much of it is to do with Perez driving the car on a knife edge, which makes it tougher for him to drive and extract lap times. Red Bull want to make Perez more ‘comfortable and confident’ in the RB20, which could help him improve his form.

Several in the F1 paddock believe it was a mistake to continue with Perez, including Williams team principal James Vowles who felt they should have signed Carlos Sainz.