Christian Horner’s latest hint that Red Bull could drop Sergio Perez
Red Bull could change their driver line-up before F1 2025, team boss Christian Horner has admitted.
Christian Horner has dropped the latest suggestion that Red Bull could change their F1 driver line-up before the 2025 season.
Sergio Perez is under contract for next season having signed an extension earlier this year but his future remains up in the air as he continues to underperform alongside teammate Max Verstappen.
While Verstappen could secure his fourth successive drivers’ world title as early as this weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix, Red Bull face a tough task to defend their constructors’ championship crown.
Perez has only recorded 48 points over the past 15 races during a time Red Bull have slipped to third place in the constructors’ standings, 49 points behind leaders McLaren with only three races remaining.
Red Bull team principal Horner has previously defended Perez but admitted his side “desperately need” the Mexican to up his performances.
“Sergio is our driver and we want to do the very best to get the most out of him,” Horner told the official F1 channel. “He’s had a really tough run of form over recent weeks and months.
“From a constructors’ point of view, we desperately need both cars right up there working as a pair, which we haven’t had. So obviously, hopefully Checo can get some strong performances in these last three races.
“But there’s no way we’re going to be able to win the constructors championship without that.”
Red Bull could opt to promote either Yuki Tsunoda or Liam Lawson from sister team RB, while Williams stand-in Franco Colapinto has also been mooted as a possible replacement for Perez.
Horner said Red Bull have the freedom to wait “all the way up until” the season-opening Australian Grand Prix before making a final decision, if required.
“All the drivers that we have under contract, we’re very clear on what their contractual situations are,” he said.
“We could, if we so chose, leave it all the way up until Melbourne next year if we want to because we have drivers under contract.
“But inevitably at the end of the year, we’ll sit down and look at all the information that’s available to us.”
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