Red Bull has announced that Sergio Pérez will not be racing for the team in Formula One next year after reaching an agreement to part ways.
Pérez, 34, leaves Red Bull after a four-season stint alongside Max Verstappen and looks set to be replaced by RB driver Liam Lawson for 2025.
The announcement comes after talks between Pérez’s representatives and Red Bull since the end of the F1 season in Abu Dhabi on Dec. 8, which concluded a difficult campaign for Pérez as he slumped to eighth place in the championship and Red Bull missed out on the constructors’ title.
“I’m incredibly grateful for the past four years with Red Bull Racing and for the opportunity to race with such an amazing team,” Pérez said. “Driving for Red Bull has been an unforgettable experience and I’ll always cherish the successes we achieved together.”
Thank you for these four years @redbullracing
I wish you the best. pic.twitter.com/9vLUwvqBDl— Sergio Pérez (@SChecoPerez) December 18, 2024
Team principal Christian Horner paid tribute to Pérez in a press release issued by Red Bull, calling him “an extraordinary team player, helping us to two constructors’ titles and to our first 1-2 finish in the drivers’ championship. His five wins, all on street circuits, were also a spectacular mark of his determination to always push to the limit. While Checo will not race for the team next season, he will always be an extremely popular team member and a treasured part of our history.”
In the statement confirming Pérez’s departure, Red Bull said that “further announcements regarding the team’s full 2025 line-up will be made in due course.”
Questions about the Mexican driver’s status at Red Bull have been asked since May amid a sharp downturn in performance. His last major points haul came at the Miami GP weekend in early May when he brought home 18 points, failing to finish a race in the top five since then. That was round six, and from there, he scored points at 11 race weekends (the most being eight points over the Dutch GP weekend) and didn’t score at seven races (five of which he DNFed).
Red Bull tried to give Pérez extra support by agreeing terms on a one-plus-one-year contract extension that was announced in early June, only for Horner to admit in Abu Dhabi that it “didn’t work.”
Pérez had been adamant for months that he’d remain with the team in 2025, reiterating that a contract was in place. But after the season finale in Abu Dhabi, his stance softened.
“We’re talking to try and see what’s best going forward, and we’ll see what happens in the coming days,” Pérez said after the checkered flag, adding that he and the team would “discuss what is the situation for both parties and see if we’re able to reach an agreement.”
Pérez’s downturn in performance had bigger implications for Red Bull. He finished eighth in the driver standings with 152 points, while teammate Verstappen secured his fourth consecutive world championship, securing 437 points. To put the Dutchman’s point haul into perspective, Verstappen would’ve been fifth in the constructors’ standings, just 31 points off of fourth-place Mercedes.
Between his performance and a car with issues, Red Bull couldn’t defend the constructors’ championship despite leading for much of the season, eventually finishing third in the standings. McLaren passed the Milton Keynes-based team after Azerbaijan, where Oscar Piastri won the race, and Ferrari passed Red Bull after Mexico City, where Carlos Sainz took the victory.
Pérez had started the year with multiple standout performances, securing four podium appearances in the first five races. Horner said after the Monaco GP in late May that Red Bull “need to make sure that we have got both cars up there scoring points because we cannot dismiss the threat of Ferrari and McLaren in both championships.”
Pérez won five races since joining Red Bull in 2021 and appeared on the podium 29 times. He finished last year’s championship as the runner-up and played a key role in Red Bull’s 2022 and 2023 constructors’ titles, as well as helping Verstappen clinch his maiden drivers’ title in 2021 by holding up Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.
Red Bull is yet to confirm who will replace Pérez in 2025, but it is anticipated that Lawson, who has started 11 F1 races for its junior team, will make the step up to partner Verstappen.
This would open up a seat alongside Yuki Tsunoda at RB for next year, which is set to be taken by Isack Hadjar, the Formula Two runner-up.
Pérez made his F1 debut in 2011 with Sauber and proceeded to race for McLaren (2013), Force India (2014-2018) and Racing Point (2019-2020) before joining Red Bull. He’s competed in more than 280 grands prix, scored over 1,600 points, secured six wins and been part of the podium 39 times.
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