After a miserable showing of only 45 points in the last 16 races, Red Bull finally lost their patience with Sergio Perez and showed him the exit door before 2025. Liam Lawson will replace the Mexican driver alongside Max Verstappen next season. As for Perez, his future in F1 and racing in general is still unknown.
The 34-year-old will mainly look to head home and spend time with his family, with no other seat available for him. However, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has mentioned that there is something that will keep him slightly busy in 2025.
Sergio Perez’s Red Bull departure was his choice according to team boss Christian Horner ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/3tOtUd3MCE
— The Race (@wearetherace) December 18, 2024
Speaking in a conversation with talkSPORT Driving, Horner stated that Perez will do some show runs for the Austrian outfit next year. “He is still going to be involved with the team. He’ll be doing a couple of show runs with us during next year,” he said.
Just like David Coulthard often does and Daniel Ricciardo did in 2023, Perez could form this long-term ambassadorial relationship with Red Bull via these show runs. After all, he has contributed to multiple world championship triumphs for the team thanks to his four-year stint.
Horner recalled all of it but also acknowledged that Perez’s 2024 season was really “tough”. It was not justifiable for the team’s overall benefit to retain the #11 driver, just for the reported sponsorship money he brings on board. Horner, however, highlighted the exit reason diplomatically from Perez’s perspective.
The Mexican was facing a lot of “scrutiny” over his underperformance, which cost Red Bull the Constructors’ title this season. Even he understood that and did not wish to continue staying stuck in this loop of criticism and pressure to perform better.
How Red Bull were looking to salvage Perez’s poor form
Perez had started 2024 well with a few podiums, as he was right behind Verstappen’s pace. But then things started to unravel for Red Bull with McLaren and Ferrari stepping up in performance. This exposed the large deficit between Verstappen and Perez.
After the Miami GP, the Mexican could not register a single top-five finish, let alone a podium. As the season progressed, the Bulls fell down to P3 in the Constructors’ standings and just could not bounce back as Perez could not get back into podium contention.
Naturally, Red Bull had to make the tough choice to hand him the pink slip and replace him with Lawson for 2025. There is no guarantee that Lawson would be better than Perez, but the Milton Keynes outfit have faith in the Kiwi driver to come good and fulfill their expectations of being a solid and competitive teammate to Verstappen.
