It seems like Charles Leclerc has found himself a new suitor. Following the lap 1 crash between him and Sergio Perez, Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner has voiced his opinion. And it looks like Sergio Perez might be on his way out of Red Bull, sooner rather than later, as Horner has shockingly chosen to side with the Ferrari driver.

The start of the Mexican Grand Prix saw the home hero, Sergio Perez, unfortunately, crash out at lap 1, after crashing with Leclerc. Going into the turn 1 at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, and Sergio Perez went three-wide, as unfortunately Checo paid the heavy price. Now deemed as a ‘racing incident’. Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner’s recent comment, has however suggested that Perez might be the one at fault for this incident.

Sergio Perez crash at the Mexican GP: Christian Horner shifts the blame onto his driver as Charles Leclerc deemed innocent

Considering that Christian Horner is the team principal of Red Bull, one would expect him to at least not shift the blame on his driver and play neutral. However, that seems to not be the case. During a recent post-race interview, they asked Horner about his thoughts on the incident. And his statement showcases an interesting difference in treatment for the two Red Bull drivers.

Horner stated, “Yeah, look. I mean, it was a great shame to lose Checo. He got a great start and good run down to turn 1 and then Charles, I think you got to call it a racing accident. Three into one never goes in. Checo was squeezing, Charles had nowhere to go, and contact was unfortunately made and that was it. It was just too much damage. The boys did their best to get it turn around but no chance, unfortunately.”

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Despite Horner playing devil’s advocate by praising Checo for his thunderous start and calling the crash a “racing accident”, the fact that Horner chose to outright point out how three drivers heading into turn 1 at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez was never going to work.

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Now you could consider that Christian Horner is simply being honest and there wouldn’t be any problem with that. However, this ‘honesty’ of his suddenly seems to disappear whenever the golden boy, Max Verstappen, is involved. It is interesting to see how Checo does not get defended like the way Verstappen does, by his own team. Perhaps signaling a change coming soon.

Is Horner defending Leclerc a subtle hint for a future driver lineup?

Now this might be quite a stretch in terms of speculating, but considering that Sergio Perez is most likely on his way out, there’s a possibility that Horner might be eyeing Charles Leclerc as Max Verstppen’s new teammate. With Daniel Ricciardo, and now Fernando Alonso being one of the front runners for a shot at that RB seat, why not Leclerc?

Given Charles Leclerc’s recent frustrations reaching an all-time high and him already developing an image away from the brand of Ferrari, there is a chance that Leclerc will switch from Ferrari to Red Bull. Granted, the chance of this happening is lower, at least for now. Could you imagine if this move happens and the opening shot of episode 1 of the next DTS season has him introducing himself as an RB driver? Wouldn’t that be something?

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Christian Horner’s recent statement has him defend Charles Leclerc by blaming Sergio Perez for their lap 1 incident in Mexico. With Horner’s statement defending Leclerc, it’ll be interesting to see whether he is eyeing him for the Red Bull seat.