Christian Horner has said there is “no rush” to figure out how best to proceed as Sergio Perez and Red Bull negotiate their future.

With the F1 2024 season now concluded, Red Bull and Sergio Perez have opened talks on how to progress for next year, with the expectation being that Perez will depart the team’s driver line-up.

Christian Horner confirms Red Bull discussions

While Red Bull’s decision to drop Perez from its driver line-up has been an open secret for the last week, the nature of the split has yet to be determined.

Perez is understood to have an offer to remain on Red Bull‘s books as a driver ambassador, in what is a similar role to what David Coulthard has enjoyed since retiring at the end of 2008.

Horner’s comments in Qatar, urging Perez to “come to his own conclusions”, implied the Mexican driver needs to decide to stand down of his own accord and take a dignified safety net, as opposed to digging his heels in and forcing an amicable relationship into acrimony.

Until Sunday, Perez maintained the line that he has a valid contract with Red Bull for 2025, outright ruling out any chance of him resigning voluntarily.

But, following his Lap 1 retirement from the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Perez confirmed for the first time that talks regarding his position with Red Bull are being held, all but admitting that his future with the team is uncertain.

Speaking to media, including PlanetF1.com, following the race, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said the details of the discussions will remain behind closed doors until a solution is reached.

“Obviously, those discussions will happen between Checo [Perez] and the team,” he said.

“Now we’ve got the season out of the way, we’ll sit down with him and reflect on the season, and obviously, where it’s gone wrong.

“Collectively, we will work out what is the right and appropriate way forward. Checo has been a great servant of this team.

“Thinking back to this race in 2021 – the contribution that he made, the 2022 and ’23 Constructors’ World Championships, five race victories, second in last year’s Drivers Championship… he’s done an awful lot for this team.”

The indications have been that a wider management call will be made early this week and, when asked about the timeline of a possible decision to swap Perez out for one of the VCARB drivers Liam Lawson or Yuki Tsunoda, Horner said: “We’ll sit down and reflect on this season and how we move forward.

“There’s no immediate rush.

“All the permutations are available to us internally. So I think the first thing is to sit down with Checo and have that conversation now that the season is completed.”

Perez’s low points scoring in F1 2024 resulted in Red Bull being unable to defend its Constructors’ Championship crown, with the Mexican driver only managing eighth place overall – the points gulf between himself and Max Verstappen was 285 points, the largest difference between teammates on the grid.

This gulf allowed the more consistent McLaren duo, despite winning fewer races than Red Bull, to claim the title ahead of Ferrari, and Horner said it’s clear such a dynamic can’t be allowed at the squad again next season.

“I think you can see the importance of having two drivers scoring on a regular and collective basis in the Constructors’ Championship is crucial,” he said.

“Ferrari will be strong with their lineup next year, and McLaren has a strong lineup.

“Mercedes will have an inexperienced driver in one of their seats. For us, it’s very important that both of our drivers are delivering and there’s not a significant gap.”

Asked whether there’s any scenario in which Perez could remain in the driver line-up next year, Horner said: “Sitting here now, he’s still our driver. So it would be wrong for me to speculate on what next year may look like until he and I have sat down and discussed this year, and we reflect on it as a team.”

Asked by PlanetF1.com whether he expects to have a new teammate next year, Verstappen said: “I don’t know. I mean, this is up to the team.

“I always worked really well with Checo. He’s a great guy, honestly, it’s very rare that you have a teammate like him, who has always been very good and just a nice guy.”

Put to him that Perez has been a victim of Red Bull’s downturn in form as development of the RB20 went in the wrong direction, Verstappen said he believes that to be the case.

“I work with him every weekend, week in, week out, and people have been very harsh on him,” he said.

“Of course, some weekends maybe could have been better but sometimes people have been very harsh on him, because he’s not an idiot.

“He’s always been regarded as a great driver, and it’s been tough, but it’s been tough for everyone in the team, because sometimes it [the RB20] was just very difficult to drive.”

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