Christian Horner once gave a savage response to Sergio Perez when discussing the Red Bull team amid the prospect of the duo reuniting in F1.
Perez departed Red Bull at the end of 2024, despite being given a contract earlier last year which was due to run until the conclusion of the 2026 F1 season.
Perez - whose previous teams include Sauber, McLaren, and Force India/Racing Point - joined Red Bull for the start of the 2021 season to partner Max Verstappen.
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The Mexican helped Red Bull win the 2022 and 2023 Constructors' Championships, while Verstappen won four successive Drivers' Championships.
However, Perez's form nosedived last season after four podiums in the first five races.
The Mexican failed to finish on the podium after his third place at the Chinese Grand Prix at the fifth event of the season and he ended the campaign in a distant eighth place, while his team-mate Verstappen won the drivers' crown in the same car.
Perez's underperformance meant Red Bull lost the Constructors' Championship to McLaren and ended up finishing in third place, with Ferrari overtaking the Milton Keyes-based team as well.
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Perez came to a mutual agreement with Red Bull to terminate his deal and he is now a free agent and can drive for another F1 team.
Red Bull have struggled to find a driver who is a match for Verstappen ever since Daniel Ricciardo's departure from the team at the end of 2018.
Since then, Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, Perez, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda have all not been able to match the Dutchman in what is known to be an incredibly difficult car to drive, but which only Verstappen appears to be able to live with its tricky characteristics.
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Indeed, Red Bull swapped Lawson for Tsunoda after only two races this season, and it remains to be seen who Verstappen's team-mate will be in 2026.
Next year will see a new entry on the F1 grid as US car giant Cadillac enters a team in time for a new rules set, with adapted cars and new-look hybrid engines to debut.
Cadillac are working on their own engine project, but from 2026 will be a Ferrari customer initially until its own powertrain is ready.
The two drivers the American team are due to turn to are, according to The Race, Perez and current Mercedes reserve driver Valterri Bottas as Cadillac opts for a vastly experienced line-up to aid its arrival to the F1 grid.
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Horner is also no longer Red Bull team principal after being sacked following 20 years at the helm.
He was deposed earlier this season, but he is widely expected to be back in F1 at some point in one capacity or another.
Indeed, he has been tipped to play a part at some point in the Cadillac operation, which, if it comes to fruition, would see him reunited with Perez.
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And Perez revealed that Horner gave an eyebrow-raising comment when they first met in 2020 ahead of the Mexican being named as Verstappen's team-mate in 2021 when Albon was still partnering the Dutchman.
Perez said that Red Bull would have raced with just Verstappen if they could, and only ran a second car - that he would end up driving - because they were obliged to.
Speaking on the Desde el Paddock podcast, Perez said: "When I met up with Christian for the first time in person, he said, 'Look, we’re a team that runs two cars because we have to run two cars, we could easily race with just Max'.
"That was when Alex was there. I knew that Alex was a great driver."
Topics: Formula 1, Red Bull Racing, Max Verstappen, Christian Horner
John McDougall