On a day of massive decisions, Red Bull has confirmed that Sergio Pérez will remain with the Milton Keynes-based squad through the rest of the 2024 season. A meeting took place in the UK earlier today between the top brass, and they agreed that the 6-time race winner continues at the team. Staff have been informed of the news.
In June, it was confirmed that the Mexican agreed a new two-year deal with the team, but he has been struggling a lot since his last top 5 finish in Miami.
At that stage, the 34-year-old from Mexico was 35 points adrift of teammate Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship as he ran in P2, scoring four podiums in the opening five rounds.
However, he’s only scored 30 points since that trip to the United States, with a best result of P7 in Austria, Hungary and Belgium. He sits P7 in the Drivers’ Championship, 146 points adrift of teammate Max Verstappen.
Such has been his abysmal form over the last eight rounds, it has allowed McLaren to close in as the Constructors’ Championship looks wide open. Red Bull is only 42 points clear of the Woking-based team following Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix.
With Lewis Hamilton and both Ferraris beating Pérez yesterday, there is an enormous amount of pressure on the 6-time race winner to up his game to help the team win both championships.
In 2022 and 2023, he helped the team win the Constructors’ Championship, and he played a huge role in Abu Dhabi in 2021 by holding up Lewis Hamilton, allowing Max Verstappen to stay within the Brit’s pit stop window, and ultimately benefitting from a Safety Car to win the Drivers’ Championship in hugely controversial circumstances.
It does mean that Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda will be at RB for the rest of the season. The Australian and Liam Lawson had been rumoured to potentially take Pérez’s drive. Instead, they could be fighting for the second RB drive in 2025 if Pérez continues at Red Bull Racing.
Christian Horner gave a short statement on the decision to keep Sergio Pérez alongside Max Verstappen. He had already hinted at it in his post-race Belgian GP written media session.
“Checo remains a Red Bull Racing driver despite recent speculation, and we look forward to seeing him perform at tracks he has previously excelled at after the summer break.”
