F1 steward Johnny Herbert believes Christian Horner wants to keep Sergio Perez at Red Bull which is “confusing”, as relying on just Max Verstappen will not work.

Perez’s fourth season with Red Bull was a troubling experience for the Mexican racer, who went without a podium after April’s Chinese Grand Prix and scored 152 points in F1 2024 compared to team-mate Max Verstappen’s 437, as he secured a fourth-straight Drivers’ Championship.

Johnny Herbert urges Red Bull need ‘two good drivers’

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

However, Red Bull were unable to retain their Constructors’ title, slipping to a P3 finish, with the expectation now being that Perez will not continue with the team into F1 2025.

But, Herbert sees a desire at Red Bull to retain faith in Perez, which baffles him.

“There seems to be a will at Red Bull to give him another chance which I don’t quite understand,” Herbert told FlashscoreUSA.

“It has got to a point where it just hasn’t happened. I get he wants to race against the best in Max, but it hasn’t worked out really. This year it has just petered out.”

Perez claimed to have turned down Red Bull exit routes to stay committed to the task alongside Verstappen, though Herbert doubts those offers came from leading teams.

“Has he had other offers? Potentially,” Herbert continued. “But are they teams who would give him a chance of winning a race? No. Absolutely not.

“Christian certainly seems to want to keep him, which I find confusing.”

While Red Bull were hampered by their one-sided driver line-up against the more balanced pairings of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri at McLaren and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz – McLaren securing the title – Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko explained that Verstappen as their key focal point is their strategy.

“Next year it’s all even closer together, I expect,” Marko predicted to De Telegraaf. “That’s what you get when the regulations run out.

“But I do think at Ferrari [Lewis] Hamilton and [Charles] Leclerc will take points off each other, and at McLaren Norris and [Oscar] Piastri as well. At Mercedes, it remains to be seen how stable they are.

“And Red Bull? With us, it’s only about Max. There is no other driver who fits into our environment, who would also become champion.”

However, if Red Bull harbour ambitions of returning to the top of the Constructors’ table, then Herbert warns they need an upgrade on Perez.

“Everybody switching on to watch the race on Sunday will know that any team needs two good drivers,” Herbert stated.

“Ferrari will have two next year in Lewis and Charles, Lando and Oscar at McLaren are doing very well, Kimi [Antonelli] and George at Mercedes look like a potentially good pairing. Red Bull needs two who are capable of being thereabouts. Max is the only one who is getting those Constructors’ points.”

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While Yuki Tsunoda got his first taste of Red Bull machinery when driving the RB20 in the Abu Dhabi post-season test – talking up the match between his driving style and that car – it is Racing Bulls team-mate Liam Lawson who is regarded as the favourite to step up to Red Bull if they dispense of Perez’s services.

Perez, like Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon before, has experienced the difficulties of impressing against Verstappen in the second Red Bull, though this does not factor into Lawson’s thinking should the opportunity come his way.

“I don’t know what they felt when they were there,” Lawson told PlanetF1.com.

“You can always look at it as an outsider and think ‘this is what it looks like they felt’, but I don’t know what it was like for them. I believe, for anybody to go up against Max, you have to be realistic and know that he’s the fastest guy on the grid right now, and that you’re not gonna be out-qualifying the guy by half a second.

“It’s not gonna be something that’s really gonna be happening. For me, it’s more the opportunity that’s there to learn from the best.

“For me as a driver, to be able to go in against the guy who’s won four world championships and is well seasoned… he’s been in that car for a long time.

“That car is almost… not developed around him, but he’s been a massive part of developing that car and understands it very well.

“In terms of how to drive it, it’s all right there on paper. When you see all the data that he brings in, for me as a driver to be alongside that, to be able to learn from him and have all that access, I think that’s what’s exciting for me about the opportunity… if that opportunity was to come in the future.”

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