Sergio Perez has been to topic of speculation for much of his three and a bit seasons with the F1 world champion team. Having been ditched by Aston Martin, Red Bull picked up Perez late in 2020 to replace the outgoing Alex Albon.
Having fiddled around for years with the top line driver lineup, Red Bull appear to have accepted the fact that no one in the same car up against Max can operate at she level. The question now is, who is best placed to pick up the points the team requires to ensure they win the team championship?
Perez ‘loyal’ during infighting
The plan to promote Daniel Ricciardo to replace Perez appears almost completely abandoned now as the Aussie continues to struggle to beat his Japanese team mate. Also, to be fair to Checo, he has raised his game this year bringing home three 1-2’s for Red Bull in the opening four rounds of the season.
Yet with Lewis Hamilton shock move to Ferrari, there is now a driver available in Carlos Sainz who must F1 pundits would place ahead of Sergio in the performance stakes.
The other factor in Checo’s favour is during the recent Red Bull infighting saga, unlike his team mate Sergio threw his full support behind team mate Christian Horner from the get go. Even when Verstappen was creating shock waves suggesting he could leave the Red Bull team, Perez was backing his boss and rejecting Jos Verstappen’s accusations that the team was being ‘torn apart.’
Even the outspoken Helmut Marko who has been critical of Perez in the past is now singing his praises. “It is clear that Checo is currently driving his best season for us,” Marko told Kleine Zeitung.
Toto Wolff contradicts Hamilton’s assessment
Marko confirms talks with Sainz
“If he continues this performance, like the strong qualifying in Japan for example, then he is definitely the best option for Red Bull in 2025.
“He works for the team and has now also realised that his radical approach last year was wrong. His set-up is now closer to Max’s and that helps him.”
Despite high praise indeed for Checo, the enigmatic Austrian goes on to confirm the team are speaking to Carlos Sainz. In an interview with Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung, Marko said of Sainz: “We’re talking to him, he’s having his strongest season in F1, but he has a very lucrative offer from Audi that we can’t match or beat.”
Audi’s big money offer to Sainz is reportedly attached with a deadline and the Spaniard has until the end of this month to make his mind up on whether to join the Sauber/Audi project which technical director James Key revealed ay not be competitive until 2027/8.
Horner gives update on RBPT 2026 engine
F1 driver market moving swiftly
Perez is clear on his future and recognises things are moving quickly in the driver market following Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso already committing to their futures beyond this season.
“Certainly things are moving along earlier than I’d like to,” Perez told assembled media ahead of this weekends Chinese Grand Prix.
“I think given how the whole market is, we’re going to be making decisions fairly quickly. In the coming weeks, I expect to know my future.
“Everything is moving quite fast. So I think it’s important not to wait for too long.”
Hamilton “has had his time” says F1 driver
Perez reveals he’s got a 2025 drive
Intriguingly, Checo is confident he will be in F12 next season replying when asked: “Absolutely 100 per cent, I’m fully committed.
“At the end of the day, I’ve been a longtime in this sport, but I’m only 34. And when you see all the drivers carrying on, we see these days a lot longer careers.
“I’m still very fresh and very motivated. I have no doubt that 100 per cent I will be here next year.”
Marko then turned to the topic of the Red Bull infighting. “Basically, it’s about bringing calm to the team. And that is urgently needed,” he said in an update to Kleine Zeitung.
Sainz 2025 options narrow further
Marko dismisses “politics”
“As we saw in Australia, Ferrari is on hand if we don’t deliver. Other factors also played a role, but the goal has to be the fourth World Championship title in a row. Everything else has to be subordinated to that.”
When it was suggested to the Austrian advisor to Red Bull that two camps had formed within the team, with Horner and the Thai majority shareholders attempting to oust him, Marko was adamant.
“That’s politics, which I’m not involved in at the moment,” he retorted. “It’s all about winning the next World Championship title.”
Max Verstappen allowed himself to be dragged into the Red Bull internal struggles, when he intimated in Jeddah he could leave the team if his mentor Marko was released against his will.
Max still focused despite distractions
Helmut referred to Verstappen’s support saying: “That was a really great sign of loyalty. I absolutely don’t take that for granted, especially in this day and age.”
Marko goes on to return the favour claiming Verstappen’s performances this season bringing home three Red Bull 1-2’s should be recognised fully against the back drop of internal strife.
“Yes, he is just so incredibly focused,” said Marko. “He doesn’t need a team around him to help him in these situations. He is an exceptional character and is only 27 [sic] years old. He does his thing anyway and that’s a good thing.”
With the return of the Chinese Grand Prix this weekend after five years absence, Red Bull are predicted to have their work cut out as Ferrari close the gap to the world champions. Ex-Aston Martin strategists and now Sky F1 pundit, Bernie Collins believes the Shanghai circuit will favour the Ferrari car design.
Worrying news from the Chinese GP
Red Bull under pressure in China
“It’s very, very different to Suzuka,” Collins told Sky Sports. “Japan only had, really, two slow-speed corners. Now, we’ve got mainly slow-speed corners and a lot of long straights.
“So, it’s going to be about straight-line speed of the car much, much more than what it had been previously and how good the cars are on that low speed.
“I think it will play to Ferrari’s strengths. There’s a chance that Ferrari will have closed the gap a little bit to Red Bull and, maybe, taken a little step away from McLaren.”
Verstappen responds to exit rumour
As the Formula One circus rolls into Shanghai for the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix, the focus isn’t just on the high-speed thrills and precision engineering typical of a race weekend. Instead, much of the buzz centres on Red Bull Racing’s star driver, Max Verstappen, and the swirling rumours of his possible departure from the team amid internal conflict and overtures from rivals such as Mercedes.
The last few weeks have been tumultuous for Red Bull Racing, marked by an internal power struggle that has thrust the team into the media spotlight for all the wrong reasons. The situation escalated with an internal investigation into team principal Christian Horner, casting a shadow over the team’s preparations for the season… READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
“SERGIO PEREZ REVEALS HIS F1 FUTURE” (sic)
So, the big revelation is that:-
“Intriguingly, Checo is confident he will be in F12 next season” (sic).
It would have been interesting to learn for which F12 team he is proposing to depart from Formula One. Indeed, to learn which F12 teams exist and where they race. But if the cars have 12 cylinder engines it sounds good.