Red Bull set for crunch Sergio Perez talks amid timeline hint

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has confirmed that discussions with Sergio Perez about his future will take place now that the 2024 F1 season has ended.

Despite being handed an early contract extension covering the 2025 and 2026 seasons, Red Bull are expected to drop Perez from their line-up alongside Max Verstappen after underperforming this year.

While teammate Verstappen went on to secure his fourth consecutive world championship, Perez’s lack of points throughout 2024 has been a key factor in Red Bull failing to defend their constructors’ title and slipping to third behind McLaren and Ferrari.

Perez, who ended the season 285 points behind Verstappen, retired from what is likely to be his final Red Bull race after first-lap contact with Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Speaking to media including Crash.net after Sunday’s finale, Horner said talks about Perez’s future will take place now the season is complete.

“Obviously, those discussions will happen between Checo [Perez] and the team,” he explained. “Now we’ve got the season out of the way, we’ll sit down with him and reflect on the season, and obviously, where it’s gone wrong.

“Collectively, we will work out what is the right and appropriate way forward. Checo has been a great servant of this team.

“Thinking back to this race in 2021 – the contribution that he made, the 2022 and ’23 Constructors’ World Championships, five race victories, second in last year’s Drivers Championship… he’s done an awful lot for this team.

“We’ll sit down and reflect on this season and how we move forward.”

Asked what the timeline is for reaching a decision, Horner replied: “There’s no immediate rush.

“All the permutations are available to us internally. So I think the first thing is to sit down with Checo and have that conversation now that the season is completed.”

Horner tight-lipped on replacement

Current RB driver Liam Lawson is believed to be the favourite to replace Perez next season, with a decision already thought to have been made by Red Bull, despite Horner’s comments.

Horner remained cagey to not give away many hints about what Red Bull will do, but provided a short assessment of the performances of RB’s two drivers - who he confirmed would be the “candidates” if the team does opt to part ways with Perez.

"I think Liam in challenging circumstances, he’s done a very good job,” Horner said.

“If you analyse what he's done and in the time that he's had and the race pace that he's had, I think he's done a good job.”

On Lawson’s teammate Yuki Tsunoda, Horner added: “I think Yuki has done a good job. So, in the event that anything were decided with Checo, [they] would be the candidates.”

And Horner underlined the importance of Red Bull having two drivers delivering strong results next season given how competitive the grid now is.

“I think 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 lineup next year, and McLaren has a strong lineup.

“Mercedes will have an inexperienced driver in one of their seats. For us, it’s very important that both of our drivers are delivering and there’s not a significant gap.”