Sergio Perez will retain his position at Red Bull Racing for the second part of the season, the team announced following a meeting of Red Bull executives on Monday. This decision comes after a period of underwhelming performances from the Mexican driver.
A Red Bull spokesperson confirmed that team principal Christian Horner informed employees at the Milton Keynes base that Perez would continue driving for the team. Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reported Horner’s statement: “Checo remains a Red Bull Racing driver, despite all the speculation of late. We look forward to seeing him perform on circuits where he has done well before.” The spokesperson verified the report’s accuracy to BBC Sport.
There will also be no changes to the driver line-up at Red Bull’s second team, RB, with Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda retaining their seats.
Horner, alongside other Red Bull bosses, had convened to deliberate on whether to replace Perez after the summer break, with the performance of the RB line-up also under review. The F1 season resumes at the Dutch Grand Prix on August 23-25.
Perez’s recent performances have been lackluster, with a seventh-place finish at the Belgian Grand Prix after starting second on the grid. This led Red Bull motorsport adviser Helmut Marko to describe Perez’s performance as “completely collapsing” to Sky Germany. Perez has not reached the podium since the fourth race of the season in China in April, resulting in finishes of seventh three times, eighth twice, seventeenth once, and two retirements.
These poor results have put Red Bull under pressure in the constructors’ championship, with McLaren closing the gap to just 42 points. Should McLaren maintain their current performance, they could overtake Red Bull before the season ends.
Max Verstappen leads the drivers’ championship by 78 points and has won seven of this year’s 14 races. However, Red Bull’s form has dipped, with Verstappen not winning a race since the Spanish Grand Prix in June.
Amid speculation about his future, Perez had signed a new contract with Red Bull just two months ago, intended to keep him with the team until the end of 2026. Following the Belgian Grand Prix, Perez expressed frustration with ongoing questions about his future, stating, “We have too much going on in the team and a lot of things that we have to focus on, and we cannot waste any energy with all this speculation. This is the last time I will speak about the future. So just to make it clear for everyone, I will not be speaking anymore. I will not answer any more questions about the future.”