Red Bull boss’ hint spells trouble for under-pressure F1 star

Christian Horner has sent the strongest hint yet that Sergio Pérez will not be driving for Red Bull in 2025 after he struggled again in the Qatar Grand Prix.

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Pérez, who did well to reach Q3 after a bottom-five knockout in sprint qualifying, spun on Lap 39 and failed to finish Monday’s race, unable to control a burst of power on his cold tyres.

It was the sixth time this season that Pérez had not scored a point and despite signing a two-year contract extension in June, it seems like his future at Red Bull is hanging in the balance.

Speaking after the race, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said Pérez was “old enough and wise enough to know what the situation is”.

“I’m going to let Checo [Pérez] come to his own conclusions, nobody’s forcing him one way or another,” he said, per ESPN.

“It’s not a nice situation for him to obviously be in.”

“Look, Checo has had a very tough year,” Horner added.

“Obviously the points table are what they are. We’re very much focused on really supporting him to the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi, and then obviously it’s not an enjoyable situation for Checo, being in this position with speculation every week.

“He’s old enough and wise enough to know what the situation is, and yeah, let’s see where we are after Abu Dhabi.”

When asked what he would do if Pérez wanted to stay put at Red Bull after next week’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Horner said he would wait until the end of the weekend to see where the team was placed.

Speaking before Monday’s race, Pérez played down any concerns over his future at Red Bull, confident he would be able to turn his form around before the season’s end.

“I think, at the end of the day, the team has all the information, there is so much I can say here,” he said.

“There’s a reason why we extended my contract during the year, and the team has everything [they need to know]. We exactly know where we are in terms of performance, in terms of issues, difficulties that we’ve had.

“We are a team and we know exactly internally where everything stands, so we’re working really hard as a team to come through and get back into a much better season than the one that we just had.”