Sergio Pérez has admitted for the first time that his immediate future may lie outside of Red Bull Racing.
Pérez is in the first year of a two-season deal at the championship-leading team alongside Max Verstappen, but his protracted form slump in the middle of the campaign has led to intense speculation about his place at Milton Keynes.
The Mexican has finished on the podium just five times since winning two of the first four grands prix of the season.
His last win, in Azerbaijan in April, put him six points behind Verstappen in the title standings. The Dutchman has won all 10 races since then to blow out the margin to an almost insurmountable 145 points with eight races remaining.
Speaking to Spanish broadcaster DAZN, Pérez admitted that the bruising season had forced him to consider his future.
“With the season we have had, it is important to hold the next races in an environment where I feel I can contribute,” he said. “And if that place for 2024 is not here, we will have to look for other alternatives.
“But right now my main focus is to be here, to win more races, to continue winning championships with Red Bull.
“I have a contract until next year, and sometime next year we will sit down and talk.”
It’s unclear from Pérez’s seemingly contradictory statement whether he is considering leaving the team as early as next year or whether he simply misspoke by referencing 2024.
What is clear is that after considering himself a championship contender early in the year, Pérez has accepted that Verstappen is unreachable in the sizzling form the Dutchman has enjoyed this season.
“The most complete driver on the grid, without a doubt, is Max Verstappen,” he said.
“He’s driving at a level that I haven’t seen in F1 since I’ve been here. He doesn’t make mistakes and, in truth, he goes to the limit all the time.”
Pérez also alluded to the car’s development direction hurting his own performances, resulting in the points blowout after a closer start to the campaign.
“The main difference between us is that Max Verstappen has been able to maintain his level all the time and I have not been able to. As the car has evolved it has cost me more,” he said.
“When the improvements came to me it started to cost me because I had to think a lot. And when you’re thinking about how to take a curve at 300 kilometres per hour, it doesn’t come as easy as when you’re on automatic with the car.
“It’s been a lot of work for me in the last few races.”
PIT TALK: Ferrari couldn‘t stop Max Verstappen to winning a record-breaking 10th consecutive grand prix on what was an entertaining afternoon in Monza — so long as you weren’t McLaren principal Andrea Stella, who had to watch Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris engage in friendly fire partway through the race.
Red Bull Racing has denied that there’s any conspiracy to boost Verstappen’s performances at Pérez’s expense, and there’s little reason to think the team would nobble one of its own drivers to the point it would risk finishing one-two in the drivers championship for the first time in its history.
Instead the team has found greater levels of car performance in exchange for less stability. Verstappen is more easily able to live with a less stable car. Pérez is not.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO PÉREZ?
It’s perhaps in this context that Pérez is referring to an environment in which he feels he “can contribute”. A car built around Verstappen’s preternatural ability every year is unlikely to ever have the characteristics Pérez requires to mount a title tilt.
But that doesn’t mean the team won’t want to keep him.
The Mexican has been Verstappen’s most competitive teammate since Daniel Ricciardo.
Verstappen has outscored Pérez by 166 per cent in their three years as teammates. He outscored Albon 203 per cent in their full season together in 2020 and Gasly by 287 per cent in their half-year partnership in 2019.
The Mexican is also doing enough to finish second in the drivers championship this year. Red Bull Racing has never finished one-two in the individual standings.
“On the one hand the seat in Red Bull is one of the most wanted, but on the other hand you also have Max Verstappen as an opponent,” Red Bull motorsport adviser Helmut Marko told ServusTV.
“You then need a very strong personality and also mentality. Pérez is the one who has done the best of all drivers in recent years and also won races.”
But earlier this year Pérez said, “With a family at home in Mexico, I wouldn’t be doing this if I did not believe I could win the world championship”.
Perhaps his allusion to an early exit is formed by the realisation that he won’t have a title chance at Red Bull Racing.
Having been pummelled by Verstappen for three seasons, he’s unlikely to get a look-in at another championship contending team in 2024 or 2025.
Though he talks about looking for alternatives, a return to the midfield slog is unlikely to appeal in his mid-30s. Retirement as a multiple winner and pole-getter could be on the cards.
IF NOT PÉREZ IN 2024, THEN WHO?
It would be impossible not to bring Daniel Ricciardo and AlphaTauri teammate Yuki Tsunoda into the conversation. Bar Logan Sargeant and Zhou Guanyu, they’re the only current drivers out of contract.
There’s a long-term upside to Tsunoda, but Ricciardo is a proven talent. At a more mature stage in his career, he’s more likely to be a dependable scorer without rocking the boat — assuming he returns from injury in good form.
Promoting either driver would solve another problem: the increasingly pressing need to find a seat for Liam Lawson.
Lawson has so far impressed in his two races substituting for Ricciardo, and with Daniel unlikely to return until the Qatar Grand Prix, the Kiwi will probably get two more weekends to make his case.
“He is a very strong driver,” Marko told ServusTV. “He is clever during his battles on the track. He is a bit like Bruce McLaren. We definitely need to keep watching him for the future.
“The speed was there [last weekend in Italy], and that is a good sign.”
While Marko stopped short of promising Lawson a seat, the prospect of a full-time AlphaTauri drive is clearly on the cards.
“He is now still driving in the Japanese championship, where he is second in a very, very difficult battle.
“He can still win the title. Maybe that means he grabs a permanent seat in F1 instead of the role of reserve driver. That can happen quickly.
“He has shown he is good enough to compete in Formula 1 and now he needs to confirm this progression in the coming races.”
Moving Ricciardo or Tsunoda to Red Bull Racing solves this three-into-two equation. Even if Pérez decided he wants to race next year, Red Bull has never been afraid of tearing up contracts in the past. You’d have to think this remains a live option in any situation.
WHAT ABOUT 2025?
For all the reasons listed above, Red Bull’s homegrown talent pool would be the first port of call if Pérez sees out his deal.
Ricciardo will be offered an AlphaTauri extension to keep him in the frame if he performs well for the rest of the season, while another step-up from Tsunoda — or perhaps even an impressive debut season from Lawson — would also see them considered.
Externally, much has been made about the prospect of a Lando Norris-Max Verstappen partnership, including by Marko.
“He is definitely a candidate for us,” Marko told ServusTV. “In terms of youth and speed, he would suit us very well.”
But Norris is contracted to McLaren until the end of 2025, and CEO Zak Brown has told Motorsport Total that there’s no chance he would consider releasing the Briton ahead of time.
The risk-reward proposition of stepping into Verstappen’s team may also be less attractive if McLaren continues its trajectory towards becoming a victory contender.
His teammate, however, is available.
Oscar Piastri is on a two-year deal expiring at the end of next year. The Aussie is managed by compatriot Mark Webber, who has obvious ties back to Red Bull.
Piastri would be on the cusp of his 24th birthday in 2025, making him an ideal long-term bet given Verstappen’s frequent hints that he may not race beyond the end of his current contract expiring in 2028.
McLaren, though, rates Piastri as a world championship prospect and would surely be eyeing an early re-signing to keep him off the market.
Elsewhere, both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz will be up for renewal at Ferrari next year.
Both have signalled their intention to stay, and the team has suggested it will offer both new deals. But with few proven race winners on the market in 2025, it could be in the drivers’ interests to wait and see how the year develops.
Would they be tempted to move? Leclerc has talked repeatedly about wanting to take Ferrari to championship contention and is regarded as central to the team’s plans.
Sainz, on the other hand, raced alongside Verstappen at Toro Rosso. Those were different days, but he compared well alongside the Dutchman and would back himself to take the fight to him at the senior team.
Red Bull Racing may have to invest in methods to keep their fathers separated, however.
Alex Albon, another former Red Bull protégé, will be out of contract at Williams. Albon has matured significantly since his lukewarm 2019–20 Red Bull Racing chance, though the team rated him highly even after benching him in 2021 — his simulator work played an important role in powering Verstappen to that year’s championship.
But the Thai driver is clearly the central pillar of Williams’s rejuvenation plans, and it would be difficult to see Logan Sargeant — if he were retained — or a 2024 rookie being able to step into those shoes if he were to leave.
The final longshot option is Fernando Alonso, whose contract expires next year. The veteran has left the door open to a renewal beyond 2024, but it’s difficult to imagine Red Bull Racing risking destabilising the team dynamic for what would surely be a short-term deal for the two-time champion.
With what’s sure to be one of the grid’s most competitive seats in 2024 and 2025, Red Bull Racing will have no shortage of options. But as the team’s learnt in the last five years, picking the right one to partner Verstappen isn’t always easy.
