Red Bull admits handing Perez early contract “didn’t work”

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has admitted that giving Sergio Perez an early contract extension this year to try to clear the Mexican’s mind of worries “did not work”.

The Milton Keynes-based squad is expected to make a call on its 2025 driver line-up next week, with mounting speculation that it could elect to drop Perez in favour of one of its RB youngsters Liam Lawson or Yuki Tsunoda.

This comes despite Red Bull having extended Perez’s contract back in June until the end of 2026, based on his strong start to the season and because the outfit did not want him to be concerned about his place within the squad.

But with Perez’s form having dipped ever since he signed his deal, Horner has not shied away from admitting that things did not turn out the way that the team had wanted.

“Obviously, at the time, Sergio was performing extremely well,” said Horner about the thinking of going early with the deal.

“I think he had four podiums in the first five races and, in order to settle his mind and extend that run of form for the rest of the season, we elected to go early – which obviously didn’t work. That’s just life sometimes.

“But I think with Checo you have to look beyond this year for the contribution that he’s made to our team. He’s been a great team player. He’s a great person. He’s extremely popular within the team. He’s worked very hard over the four years that he’s been with us and he’s played a vital role in the constructors’ championships that we’ve won, the five grand prix victories that he had in our car.

“It’s been the most successful pairing that we’ve ever had, finishing first and second in the drivers’ championship last year.”

Horner said that nobody was happy that things had not turned out as expected with Perez, with the meeting of shareholders to discuss the future set for Monday.

But repeating recent remarks about suggesting the ball was in Perez’s court with regards to his future, it seems clear that some contractual deal will need to be made for a change at the squad.

Asked if Red Bull had made its mind up about which driver it wanted alongside Max Verstappen in 2025, Horner said: “We’re fortunate that we’ve got a tremendous pool of talent.

“It was good to see Isack Hadjar getting a run out as well in free practice. We’ve got two talented drivers in VCARB [RB], so until the situation is clear with Sergio and what he wants to do, everything else is purely speculation.”