F1 News
Red Bull never seriously considered Hulkenberg: "Brief discussion"
- GPblog.com
Speculation about a possible replacement for Alexander Albon began as early as the summer. Then the names of Nico Hulkenberg and Sebastian Vettel in particular went around. Horner now says, however, that these two were never seriously considered and that everything was triggered by Perez's good performance.
"No. There was no other," says Horner to Autosport.com when asked if they had looked seriously at other options. "There was a brief discussion with Nico Hulkenberg. But it's really accelerated over the last month, I would say."
Red Bull was lucky that Perez had nowhere else to go
According to Horner, Hulkenberg was already out of Red Bull's picture at the time and Sebastian Vettel was never even mentioned. All attention at that time was focused on the driver who would be replaced by the German before 2021. Horner is happy that a driver like Perez was available.
"It's remarkable and, I mean, circumstances are a little crazy, aren't they? Nico Hulkenberg is another capable driver that should really have a seat in F1. It was our good fortune that he [Perez] didn't have a seat and that allowed us the time to fulfil the season with Alex before making a decision."