F1 insider refutes Sergio Perez's claim of continuing to stay at Red Bull in 2025
F1 insider Ronald Vording recently refuted Sergio Perez's claim that he would remain with Red Bull in 2025. The rumors about the Mexican departing from the team emerged after his subpar performance in 2024.
As the 2024 F1 season comes to an end, there have been several rumors about Sergio Perez's future in Red Bull, particularly because his performance has not improved yet.
While Sergio Perez claimed that he would remain with the team in 2025, Motorsport.com's journalist, Ronald Vording, that Checo's claim does not paint the whole picture of what's going on inside the Austrian team.
Speaking on Motorsport.com's Dutch wing on YouTube on Friday, November 29, Vording said that he had spoken to a few people in the paddock who have claimed that Checo's future in Red Bull is not certain. He added that it will be decided after the 2024 F1 season ends, with principal Christian Horner, senior advisor Helmut Marko, and other shareholders expected to take a call on the driver's future.
“Sergio Perez was in the press conference today, and there he said ‘yes, I will definitely be in that Red Bull seat next year’. I have to say, I spoke to some people off the record, and they all said it’s not certain at all because it will only be decided after Abu Dhabi with the main players – Horner, Marko and the other shareholders. They say it’s not set in stone at all as Checo says it is,” Vording said (Translated from Dutch) (4:54 onwards).
Sergio Perez started off the season on a high by securing second places in races and was right behind his teammate and reigning world champion, Max Verstappen. After the Miami GP, however, other drivers like Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc, and Oscar Piastri started closing the gap to Verstappen and quickly became quicker than Perez. Checo was unable to fight with the top drivers and was frequently seen getting knocked out in Q2 sessions in qualifying.
This resulted in him controlling the damage in most races, which never allowed him to secure a decent position.
Sergio Perez remained tight-lipped regarding his Red Bull contract but claims he will be with the team in 2025
Since Sergio Perez has been struggling throughout the 2024 F1 season, many questions about his future were thrown at him during the 2024 F1 Qatar GP press conference, which is the second-last race of the season.
In the press conference, he was asked about his contract with Red Bull and whether it has a clause that allows him to drive for RB if he is removed from the main team. To this, Checo replied that he would not spill any details about his contract in public.
"I don't speak. I've been 14 years in the sport and I don't speak about my contracts publicly. So I will not comment on that. I know exactly where I am and I will not speak about it publicly," Perez said.
However, when a follow-up question was asked whether he was 100% sure he was going to stay at Red Bull in 2025, he confidently said that he would be with the team.
"Yeah, exactly," he replied.
As of now, Sergio Perez has a contract with Red Bull till 2026 that was updated in June 2024.