Like the last three years, Sergio Perez had a pretty good start for Red Bull again. But as the season progressed, Checo had troubles with consistency once again. It has not been a long time since the Austrian outfit extended the Mexican driver’s contract. In fact, it was during the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix when the RBR team gave the teammate of Max Verstappen the “Good News” of the contract extension. However, since then, the Mexican driver has lost his consistency once again. Moreover, it is making things difficult for Christian Horner’s side as they are trying to maintain their lead in the constructor title.
But unlike Mercedes and McLaren, Red Bull’s two drivers have a huge gap in their performance levels. Last year, Max Verstappen won a record 19 races, whereas Checo won just a couple. This ongoing season so far, the Dutch racer has won seven, but Perez has not been able to win a single race. On the other hand, each of the Mercedes and Ferrari drivers has won a race in 2024. Lately, the reigning champions have revealed that all options are open for them, regarding looking at the Driver’s market for Checo’s replacement.
Red Bull Looking To Replace Sergio Perez Soon?
Recently, in an interview with Motorsports.com, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko mentioned the situation regarding Sergio Perez’s future is “Fluid.” He also said that they will make driver decisions for both the senior team and the Racing Bulls this summer. Adding to that, the 81-year-old F1 consultant told Motorsports.com’s Jonathan Noble that since they have a couple of teams to take care of, they will have to consider everything. However, the RBR senior advisor dismissed the rumors that suggested the team was looking to replace Sergio Perez with the reserve driver Liam Lawson. Marko said, “It wasn’t necessarily correct.” Meanwhile, Yuki Tsunoda of the RB team, recently said that it would be very weird for the senior team to choose Lawson over him.
In response, Helmut Marko mentioned that at first the driver should wait for what the team decides. Recently, ORF asked Marko if there was a favorite among Daniel Ricciardo, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda. In reply, the 81-year-old F1 consultant noted, “That is a very nice question for which I have a nice answer: So far, everything’s open.” As per the contract with Sergio Perez, Red Bull can drop him over the summer break if he fails to finish within a 100 points gap from his teammate. Anyway, Marko told ORF that there can be various performance clauses, but “As a driver, you have to perform.”
Checo Confident To Stay With The Austrian Outfit In 2025
Ahead of the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix, Sergio Perez mentioned that he is pretty confident to stay at Red Bull well until the end of the 2025 season. Even though he said that to the media, including, Motorsports.com, recent reports suggest that Red Bull is feeling Checo’s form is “Unsustainable.” Hence, speculations continue to swirl around the Mexican driver’s future.
RBR has made it very clear that Checo will need to lift his game in the next two races. Otherwise, the team decisions over the summer might not go in his favor. Besides Perez, Red Bull is also dealing with the inconsistent Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo. Hence, even the Aussie driver’s future in F1 is quite uncertain.
Stay tuned with Sports News International for more such updates about your favorite F1 team.
