Christian Horner regrets “unfair” promotion of Alex Albon and Piere Gasly to Red Bull

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has admitted that promoting Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon to the senior squad so early in their careers was “unfair” to the young drivers. Horner cited Sergio Perez‘s achievement, who joined the team in 2021 with nine years of experience, as proof of the significance of having a driver with a proven track record.

After only one year with AlphaTauri, Gasly, a former Red Bull youngster, was promoted to the senior squad in 2019. (then known as Toro Rosso). He failed to keep up with his more experienced teammate Max Verstappen, though, and was finally demoted back to AlphaTauri midway through the season. Gasly could not match the Dutchman’s speed and only beat him once in the race and once in qualifying.

Albon, who had only 12 Grands Prix under his belt with the junior squad, took Gasly‘s seat, but he, too, struggled to make an impression and was replaced by Perez for the 2021 season. Alex couldn’t perform the feats that Max could, and in 2020, he battled to keep up with the midfield. Alex had lost the head-to-head fight with Max, out-qualifying him only once in 26 races and out-racing him nine times.

With his years of expertise in the sport, Perez was able to immediately establish himself at Red Bull and offer Verstappen a dependable teammate. While he did not equal Verstappen’s performance on the track, he did help the team win the constructors’ title. Horner feels that Gasly and Albon’s troubles demonstrate the necessity of having a more experienced driver.

“The key thing in the appointment of Checo was his experience and it had been unfair, perhaps, on the previous two guys to bring them in so soon,” Horner said. “Checo with that experience, he’s been through some of the hard knocks with his career to that point and I think what he’s brought to us is he’s a very rounded guy, he’s a great team player. He’s got a good outlook on the development of the car and he’s very easy to work with. That’s what all the reasons were for taking him in the first place and he’s delivering on that.”

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The Verstappen-Perez duo: Red Bull’s winning formula 

As Gasly and Albon battled to keep up with Verstappen, Perez established himself as a reliable partner and contributed to the team’s success. Verstappen won 10 races to Perez’s one in 2021, and in 2022 he set the record for most wins in a season with an astounding 15 victories. While Perez improved in 2022, he could not keep up with Verstappen after the team designed the vehicle to accommodate the Dutchman’s oversteering driving style.

Horner acknowledged that being Verstappen’s teammate is a huge challenge for any driver, but believes that Perez has risen to the challenge. “It’s tough for him having Max Verstappen as your teammate, I mean, he is setting the barometer in Formula 1 currently,” Horner said. “But Checo is mature enough to be able to deal with that and handle that. And I think that he’s looking to continue to evolve and improve his own performance, so it’s good to see him looking competitive.”

Horner’s words about the worth of experience ring true. While Gasly and Albon were outstanding young drivers, they were promoted too quickly and struggled to keep up with Verstappen. With his years of expertise, Perez was able to rapidly establish himself and contribute to the team’s success.

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