Red Bull chiefs are poised to hold talks over Sergio Perez’s future amid a growing expectation that the Mexican will be replaced at the team for 2025.
Although Perez was handed a two-year contract extension in June for the 2025 and 2026 seasons, the 34-year-old has struggled badly for results since then and scored just nine points across the final eight grands prix amid a sustained run of poor form which effectively cost Red Bull the Constructors’ Championship.
Christian Horner, Red Bull’s team principal, told Sky Sports F1 on the grid ahead of Sunday’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that “we’ll sit down this week and reflect on the season” with Perez.
After retiring from the season finale on the second lap, Perez admitted in his interviews for the first time publicly that he was talking to the team about what happens next to decide “what is best for everybody moving forwards”.
Perez, who up to Sunday had repeatedly insisted he would remain in the seat next to Max Verstappen into next season, said: “We will see what happens in the coming days, I don’t know what is going to happen at the moment, I have a contract and the team and I have been talking.
“It’s a case of discussing what is the best for everybody moving forwards.”
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The best of the action from the final race of the 2024 Formula 1 season at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Horner reiterated after the race that talks would be held this week.
“Obviously those discussions will happen between Checo (Perez) and the team,” said Horner.
“Now we have got the season out of the way we will sit down with him and reflect on the season and obviously where it has gone wrong and collectively work out what is the right and appropriate way forward.
“Checo has been a great servant of this team.”
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Perez believes he extended his contract with Red Bull for a good reason, as rumours he may leave continue to grow
Who is in line to replace Perez?
Should Red Bull and Perez come to the decision to make a change, then Liam Lawson is considered the favourite to step up from sister outfit RB to replace him.
Yuki Tsunoda is testing for Red Bull for the first time in Tuesday’s post-season session in Abu Dhabi in a pre-arranged outing which Honda, the Japanese driver’s backers and the team’s engine partners, pushed for. However, the test is not considered a pre-cursor to Tsunoda landing a coveted promotion despite the 24-year-old being the top points scorer at RB over the past two seasons.
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Liam Lawson, Yuki Tsunoda and Perez have their say on what their future might look like in 2025 and if they might bag the Red Bull seat as the decision looms
Asked to assess Lawson’s six-race cameo for RB after the New Zealander replaced Daniel Ricciardo from October’s United States GP, Horner said: “Liam, in challenging circumstances, has done a very good job if you analyse what he’s done in the time that he’s had and the race pace that he’s had. I think he’s done a good job.
“Yuki has done a good job and they, in the event that anything was decided with Checo, would be the candidates we would obviously look towards.”
Having slipped from first to third in this year’s Constructors’ Championship behind two teams, McLaren and Ferrari, whose drivers were more closely-matched in competitiveness and points scoring, Horner admitted it was vital his team’s second driver was closer to four-time champion Verstappen in 2025.
“You can see the importance of having two drivers scoring on a regular and collective basis in the Constructors’ Championship is crucial,” he said.
“Ferrari will be strong with their line-up next year, McLaren have a strong line-up, Mercedes will have an inexperienced driver in one of their seats, and so for us it’s very important that both of our drivers are delivering and there’s not a significant gap.”
Red Bull junior Isack Hadjar – who on Sunday finished as runner-up in this year’s F2 championship – would be the front-runner to take the second RB seat if either Lawson or Tsunoda were promoted.
The Milton Keynes-based outfit’s interest in Williams’ Franco Colapinto, who they would have had to buy out of his deal at the Grove team, has cooled in recent weeks. Colapinto is set to revert to a reserve role at Williams in 2025 with Carlos Sainz arriving from Ferrari to partner Alex Albon.
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