Red Bull has announced that Sergio Perez has penned a contract extension to remain with the team in Formula 1 through 2026 to quash lingering doubts over his future.
The Mexican’s renewal will have huge ramifications on the track and in the driver market over the upcoming months. But who are the winners and losers from the news?
Sergio Perez
Perez maintained rumblings over his future had not contributed to his dips in form whilst at Red Bull, but it’s clear that uncertain prospects had increased the chances he would produce inconsistent performances.
However, Red Bull has now removed that from the equation with the choice to place faith in Perez with a multi-term contract at a time when he has failed to make Q3 in the last two rounds and registered four points.
But Red Bull boss Christian Horner has been certain that Perez is not replicating the slump that encapsulated his last campaign, where he ended 290 points behind team-mate Max Verstappen in the championship.
Perez could count himself fortunate that Verstappen’s supreme level and the unappetising options available to Red Bull meant that he represented the convenient candidate rather than the most competitive.
The pressure on Perez from a contractual standpoint has now been eradicated, but having dropped to fifth in the Drivers’ Championship as the pack has converged, Red Bull’s hopes to retain the Constructors’ title will rest on the output he produces.
Max Verstappen
Verstappen has made no secret that he would rather go up against a team-mate that won’t threaten the intra-team dominance he has obtained and Perez subscribes to that.
The Dutchman has inflicted a battering on Perez across all metrics since the latter arrived at Red Bull in 2021 and the gap has grown larger over the last two campaigns.
Perez hasn’t beaten the Dutchman on track since the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in April last term – and even then it was a Safety Car intervention that handed the Mexican a win.
Verstappen’s comments in Monaco showcase that he would back his credentials to overcome all drivers under equal conditions. But having Perez – a driver who understands his support role and won’t seek to upset the apple cart – over another name who could be intent on doing what’s possible to gain an upper hand will enable the reigning champion to focus on the growing external threat from Red Bull’s competitors.
Ferrari and McLaren
Perez’s recent struggles have come at a time when both Ferrari and McLaren have introduced upgrades that have transformed their respective machines into race winners.
Lando Norris capitalised on McLaren’s updated MCL38 car to claim his maiden F1 victory in Miami and he also pushed Verstappen hard to the line at Imola, while Charles Leclerc ended his home race hoodoo to triumph for Ferrari in Monaco last time.
Combined with Red Bull’s woes on the Monte Carlo streets, Ferrari now resides 24 points behind the championship leaders and must be recognised as a genuine title contender.
As Norris alluded to last month, Red Bull’s main rivals can depend on having two fairly-matched drivers at the sharp end, while it is clear that Perez is not Verstappen’s equal.
With the Verstappen-Red Bull partnership no longer as impenetrable, Perez’s results will take on more significance and failure to escape his latest spiral could open the door for Ferrari or even McLaren to pinch the Constructors’ Championship this season.
Losers
Carlos Sainz
When it was announced prior to the racing action even commencing that Ferrari had signed Lewis Hamilton for 2025 to partner incumbent Charles Leclerc, Sainz was linked with a possible return to the Red Bull stable.
Indeed, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko divulged talks had been held with Sainz’s camp, while it is believed he was postponing an answer to Audi’s proposal as he harboured faint hopes his relationship with the Austrian camp could come full circle.
However, that career progression in 2015 would transpire to be the biggest hindrance to his chances of displacing Perez in 2025.
Sainz entered the top flight alongside Verstappen with Red Bull’s sister squad, then known as Toro Rosso, but the environment within the team transcended into an unpleasant one as both drivers spied the chance to earn a promotion up the ranks.
Verstappen would be the one who earned the right five races into the next season and he has since proven it was the right choice. Sainz, meanwhile, has hopped between Renault, McLaren and Ferrari since leaving Toro Rosso and will be on the move again.
But while his performances at Ferrari since 2021 have shown he has matured into a driver who can deliver race wins and would be able to pick up the pieces on the rare occasions when Verstappen is absent, Red Bull hasn’t wanted someone to push its star.
That has become more prevalent across recent months with the tension that has spread through Red Bull’s ranks since a probe into team boss Christian Horner created concerns Verstappen could egress.
Verstappen has outlined how important a stable setting is to his career prospects and bringing on board a driver that could destabilise that is a risk that Red Bull would not want to take with Mercedes circulating.
Yuki Tsunoda
Like Sainz, Tsunoda’s showings would have more than merited a Red Bull drive in 2025. While he conceded that he was fortunate to retain his position in the sport amid a reckless debut campaign in 2021, Tsunoda has now developed into a fine racing driver.
Tsunoda was tipped to struggle when Daniel Ricciardo returned to F1 with the Faenza-based squad formerly known as AlphaTauri last summer, but the Japanese driver has shown his more experienced team-mate up since this season began back in Bahrain.
The Honda-backed competitor has been a revelation this term, scoring points on five occasions in eight rounds to elevate RB to sixth in the Constructors’ Championship.
However, Red Bull’s senior management has tended to dodge questions concerning Tsunoda’s suitability to advance up the ladder and appears to reserve the same doubts that derived from previous times.
Tsunoda has suggested that he would be prepared to exit the Red Bull setup should an enticing enough proposition come along. With Audi rumoured to be circulating as it prepares to take over Sauber, Tsunoda could be minded to take such a chance while his stock is high and attracting vast attention.
Daniel Ricciardo
Ricciardo entered this campaign striving to hit the ground running and prove to Red Bull that he still boasts what it takes to return to the seat that he vacated at the end of 2018.
However, the Australian’s sluggish start and trouble matching his less-regarded team-mate all but closed that avenue for 2025. Ricciardo trails Tsunoda 6-1 in the head-to-head and has logged points in one Grand Prix compared to his partner’s superior five.
Ricciardo has been adamant that his issues are not comparable to his ill-fated spell with McLaren and his standout outing in Miami where he bagged fourth in the Sprint race shows that’s not a coping mechanism at all.
Speculation that the second term on Perez’s deal is an option on Red Bull’s side provides hope for Ricciardo, but he will know that his tough start to the current campaign constitutes a missed chance to accelerate his potential path back to Red Bull Racing.
Liam Lawson
When Lawson deputised for the sidelined Ricciardo at five rounds last season and impressed, it looked inevitable that he would end up on the full-time grid come next term.
But while Ricciardo’s shortcomings should have served to strengthen Lawson’s hand, RB CEO Peter Bayer has revealed that the side’s preference is to retain its current line-up.
Of course, Red Bull will take the conclusive decision, but with Horner continuing to preserve faith in Ricciardo and Tsunoda proving to be undroppable, the door could slam shut on the chance Lawson deserves.
