Christian Horner confirms Sergio Perez's next move and sheds light on F1 exit decision

Red Bull boss Christian Horner says that Sergio Perez will take a 'sabbatical' from Formula 1 after agreeing his departure.

Perez, 34, was confirmed to be leaving Red Bull on Wednesday, having spent four mostly successful years with the Milton Keynes-based outfit. The Mexican driver's future in the sport is now in question while Horner and Co. have selected Liam Lawson from their junior team, Visa Cash App RB, to replace him.

Horner has explained how Red Bull and Perez came to an agreement to part ways, which will include the six-time race winner taking an ambassadorial role with their 'brand'. "Checo has been a fantastic member of this team, it's been a tough year for him, but he's a great person and played a key role in 2021 drivers' championship," the team principal and CEO told Sky Sports.

"We sat down and discussed it last week. He's decided to take a bit of time out, take a sabbatical from Formula 1 essentially. He'll still be involved with the brand and the team. But he's stepping back from driving duties moving forward.

"We're sad to see him leave the team. It's time for him to spend time with his family and reflect on what he wants to do for the future."

Horner was also asked about decision to hand Perez a new two-year contract midway through the season just finished, a decision which was announced in June. "At the time he'd had four podiums in five races, it was a logical extension to remove speculation, of which there was already too much around the team," he added.

"Every contract has performance clauses and criteria, it didn't make any difference to this decision for Sergio to step away and take a sabbatical."

Perez's struggles meant that Red Bull couldn't retain the Constructors' Championship title for the third in a row, despite team-mate Max Verstappen winning more races than anyone on the grid and lifting his fourth successive drivers' title.

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Asked if Perez cost them the title, Horner replied: "Look, I think... shoulda, coulda... would have. In hindsight, McLaren did a great job. But at the end of the day, we won more races, we had more poles, we won four sprint races, more than any other team, and we won the drivers' championship with two races to go.

"Unfortunately we had a 280-point deficit between our drivers, of course that became quite expensive in terms of the constructors' championship."

On whether he considered moving Perez to RB in a swap with Lawson, Horner explained: "I think at the stage Checo's at his in his career that wouldn't really have been an option for him. It's not something we ever really discussed or even talked about. He's come to this decision now and, obviously, we support it fully."