After months of questions about his future, the news has officially been confirmed: Sergio Perez will not be returning to Red Bull Racing in 2025. But where does that leave the rest of the grid? 

Red Bull have teased a potential update regarding driver line-ups in the press release announcing Perez’s departure.

Perez out at Red Bull — but what’s next?

In early June of 2024, Sergio Perez inked a fresh deal with Red Bull Racing that would see him continue with the team in 2025, with an option to continue into 2026 should his performance remain up to par.

There was reason to be confident in the Mexican racer’s performance. Despite a retirement in Monaco, Perez had finished in the points in all of the previous seven races, with four appearances on the podium.

As the supporting player to Red Bull’s aim for yet another constructors’/drivers’ championship duo, Perez was performing perfectly. But things quickly fell apart.

As the competition introduced strong updates packages and the pressure mounted, Perez’s performance began to slip. He began to struggle in both qualifying and in the races, and questions about his future immediately arose.

How the Perez/Red Bull relationship fell apart:

👉 Uncovered: What the data reveals between Perez, Colapinto and Lawson

👉 Horner, Perez and Newey: How Red Bull’s title stranglehold came loose

But Perez wasn’t the first domino to fall in the overall Red Bull program. Daniel Ricciardo was dropped from the junior Racing Bulls team after the Singapore Grand Prix, making way for Liam Lawson to step in for the remainder of the season.

Meanwhile, Red Bull reiterated that it was still evaluating Perez’s performance, with a decision to come about the driver’s future after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix season finale.

That decision has come. Perez has stepped back from the team he’s been competing with since 2021. For the first time since 2010, Perez will not be on the F1 grid in 2025.

Thus far, Red Bull are mum about their future, perhaps opting to give Perez’s departure a bit of breathing room.

But announcements are expected to come.

“Further announcements regarding the Team’s full 2025 line-up will be made in due course,” reads Red Bull’s press release.

There are several options for Red Bull’s future, both for its primary team and its junior team. Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda have both been working hard to earn that top Red Bull Racing seat, while Red Bull’s junior talents will be eyeing up the Racing Bulls seat.

PlanetF1.com understands Liam Lawson is the leading candidate to take the Red Bull seat for the F1 2025 season, with Isack Hadjar promoted to the Racing Bull’s line-up alongside Yuki Tsunoda.

We’ll have the latest here on PlanetF1.com when the official announcement comes.

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