Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner has given his clearest indication yet as to who would fill Sergio Perez’s seat at the team in 2025 should Red Bull and Perez decide to part company.
Having netted four podiums in the first five Grands Prix of 2024, Perez endured a trying rest of the season, scoring just 49 points between round seven in Imola and round 24 in Abu Dhabi – less than he’d scored in the first four race weekends of the year.
That saw Red Bull slump to P3 in the constructors’ by season end, behind winners McLaren and Ferrari, and despite Max Verstappen winning the title two rounds early. Indeed, had the second Red Bull accrued the same number of points (437) as Verstappen, the team would have won the constructors’ by over 200 points.
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Despite Red Bull having handed Perez a two-year contract extension in June, the Mexican’s performance has led to talk that he could be replaced for 2025 – with Horner implying that his choice would be between current RB drivers Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda, who had his first ever Red Bull test in Abu Dhabi earlier this week.
Asked about the performance of Lawson in 2025 – the New Zealander having replaced Daniel Ricciardo at RB from the United States Grand Prix – Horner replied: “I think Liam, in challenging circumstances, has done a very good job. If you analyse what he’s done in the time that he’s had and the race pace he’s had, I think he’s done a good job.
“I think Yuki’s done a good job, so in the event that anything were decided with Checo they would be the candidates we would look towards.”
