Report Claims Red Bull Confirmed Sergio Perez’s Departure to Verstappen Family After Belgian GP

The Belgian Grand Prix was supposedly Sergio Perez’s last chance to prove to Red Bull he deserved to stay in the team. But after his disappointing performance, it looked like he might get replaced. A recent report even claims that the Verstappen family was told by Red Bull management after the race that the Mexican would be replaced.

However, that was not the case eventually as Red Bull confirmed that Perez would keep his spot till the end of the 2024 season. The report from f1-insider.com stated,

“Even the Verstappen family was surprised. Before leaving the Belgian Grand Prix, both Red Bull team boss Christian Horner (50) and Red Bull chief advisor Helmut Marko (81) gave them clear statements: “Perez is gone. Max Verstappen will get a new teammate at the first race after the summer break at the home race in Zandvoort.”

Marko had been vocal in recent times about how the team was only going to wait till the Belgian GP to see whether they can continue with the Mexican driver or not. However, Perez was of the opinion that he would stay with the team and did not want to comment on the speculations of his departure. Perez is currently 146 points behind his teammate and championship leader Max Verstappen.

There were rumors of a performance clause in the Mexican’s new contract that he needed to stay within 100 points of his teammate to stay with the team. While Perez did not meet this condition, another report has now come out to explain why Red Bull decided to extend the 34-year-old’s stay.

Liberty Media urged Red Bull to reconsider decision to sack Perez

The Formula 1 circus generates a huge amount of revenue every year because of the sport’s global popularity. And the job of Liberty Media, F1’s commercial rights holder, is to make sure the revenues continue to grow.

According to the F1 Insider report, Liberty Media had spoken to Red Bull to reconsider the dismissal of Perez, who is a big personality when it comes to the Mexican Grand Prix each year. Liberty Media feared that getting rid of Perez would result in a huge drop in revenue for F1 during the event in Mexico.

The report read, “Formula 1 rights holder Liberty Media asked Red Bull to reconsider the Perez dismissal. They feared a huge drop in revenue at the Mexican GP on October 27 without national hero Perez. But Marko hinted: “The cards will be reshuffled for 2025.”

This suggests that Red Bull has made up their mind to part ways with Perez eventually and that they would do the same in 2025.