People say this all the time completely ignoring the fact that Red Bull was courting Lando when they thought they had a chance to sign him alongside Max.

Yeah I am aware of this. I think the reason Lando is exempt from this 'should not fight Verstappen requirement' because of 3 factors :-

• He and Max are buddies so I think red Bull thinks that they will be able to manage both them without there being much toxicity(though the same was true for Lewis and Nico and look how that turned out when they started fighting for titles)
• Lando is bloody quick, very close to the level that Verstappen, Lewis and Fernando(at least before this season) operate at so the upside provided by his speed is greater than the downside of potential toxicity and intra team sabotage
• Lando is younger than Verstappen and unlike max has never expressed any desire to move to other racing competitions so I think they see having Lando in the team as insurance for the long term incase max actually leaves.

The above points are why I believe that Lando gets a pass so to say. If they actually wanted to put the best available driver in perez's seat, they would be putting sainz in there but they don't want that as sainz doesn't bring the benefits that Lando brings. They either want a driver who is the best fit for the team or someone who is quick enough that they are willing to work around the negatives of such a line-up.

Edit : just want to say how good I feel to have discussions like these here on lemmy. The community here is pretty small as compared to reddit so I was missing these long but respectful discussions like these. Cheers @FrostyTrichs@walledgarden.xyz