Christian Horner: Red Bull in “luxury position” over crucial Sergio Perez decision
Will Red Bull keep Sergio Perez for 2025? Christian Horner has insisted the team isn't going to rush into a decision.
Christian Horner has admitted that Red Bull are “not in any rush” to decide Sergio Perez’s future in 2024.
Perez’s contract with Red Bull expires at the end of 2024, leading to intense speculation that this could be his final year alongside Max Verstappen.
His stuttering form in 2023 coincided with Daniel Ricciardo’s surprise return to AlphaTauri, putting even more pressure on the Mexican.
However, so far at least, Ricciardo hasn’t quite impressed, while Yuki Tsunoda isn’t thought to be a realistic option for Red Bull.
It seems that if Perez ups his form, he could stay with Red Bull for another season.
Speaking to the official F1 website, Horner conceded that Red Bull are in a “luxury position”.
“The luxury position that we’re in is that we’re not in any rush,” Horner said. “We’ve got loads of options. I think it’s Checo’s seat to lose. He’s the one that we’re backing, he’s our 2024 driver. If he does a great job [this] year, there’s no reason we wouldn’t extend him into 2025. But it would be purely based on what he achieves over what will be a large part of the season.
“In terms of us needing to be in a rush, we have options that are in the wings, we have a lot of interest from outside of the team as well. So as long as the car is competitive, it puts you in a luxury position that you can just take your time to look at what all those options look like.”
With Red Bull’s competition expected to reduce the deficit in 2024, Horner reiterated the need for Perez to be closer to Verstappen in qualifying.
“As the field converges, it’s inevitable that you want your two cars as close together as you can achieve,” says Horner. “Checo, his race pace and his racing has been very strong on many occasions. It’s his performance in qualifying that is the area he needs to focus on over the winter.
That he’s acutely aware of, that he’s got to up his qualifying average so that he’s not having to come from so far back.”
He adds: “It’s [qualifying] an area he’s going to focus hard on, because he knows it’s something that’s crucial for him for [this] year.”
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