Ahead of the final Red Bull audition, Guenther Steiner says he’s baffled that Sergio Perez has held onto his race seat this long and expects Liam Lawson will be in the RB21 next season.

Formula 1’s 2024 finale takes place in Abu Dhabi this weekend with a Grand Prix that will, at least for now, mark the swansongs for Valtteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen, and Zhou Guanyu – potentially Sergio Perez too.

Sergio Perez out, Liam Lawson in…

The Mexican driver is under pressure to announce his retirement before Red Bull wield the axe, the team making their stance clear.

“I’m gonna let Checo come to his own conclusions,” Red Bull team boss Christian Horner told the media, including PlanetF1.com, after Perez spun out of the Qatar Grand Prix while his team-mate Max Verstappen won his ninth race.

“Nobody’s forcing him one way or another. I’m gonna let him… it’s not a nice situation for him to be in.

“He’s won five Grands Prix for us, and he’s had some outstanding performances in races like Singapore, Azerbaijan, and Saudi Arabia, to name but a few.

“Everybody holds Checo in the highest regard and respect. But obviously, the situation that we’re in is as painful for him as it is for the team.”

Failing to score a single point in Qatar where 34 were up for grabs, Perez remains a distant P8 in the Drivers’ Championship having scored a mere 21 points since the summer break.

That Red Bull announced during the summer break that Perez would retain his seat despite his already lacklustre performances perplexed former Haas team boss Steiner.

Asked if Red Bull held onto Perez for too long, Steiner told Motorsport-Total.com: “I don’t know the background. For me that is the case, I didn’t expect him to still be here after the summer break.”

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But while Red Bull did stick with Perez, VCARB eventually dropped Daniel Ricciardo in favour of auditioning Liam Lawson for F1 2025.

He has scored four points in his five races back on the grid and has one more opportunity to make a claim for Perez’s Red Bull race seat.

Steiner would choose the Kiwi over long-time VCARB driver Yuki Tsunoda.

“I would go for Liam Lawson,” Steiner said. “He did a good job when he came here and he’s doing a good job now.

“He is also someone they trained themselves. He knows the Red Bull environment and has been there for a long time. That would be the most logical solution for me.

“Lawson has to deliver good results compared to Yuki Tsunoda. Then I would choose him. Or maybe Tsunoda. He has always done well and has also been a Red Bull driver for years.”

And while it has been suggested Franco Colapinto is no longer in the running, Steiner reckons if he pulls off a good showing in Abu Dhabi, he could yet put his name back in the hat.

“Red Bull are in no rush because they can see who’s the best, ” he said. “Then he [Colapinto] is definitely a candidate.”

Red Bull will decide their line-up after Abu Dhabi, Helmut Marko revealing the decision will be left to the team’s shareholders.

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