Sergio Perez’s final season at Red Bull ended in disappointment when the Mexican failed to finish in the points in six of the last seven races.
Despite the Mexican claiming that he intended to see out his agreement with the team until the end of the 2026 season, his poor performances cost Red Bull a chance to defend their Constructors’ title.
This ended up costing them millions in prize money, prompting Red Bull to make a change to their lineup for the first time since 2021. Perez was ousted in favour of Liam Lawson, whose performances at Racing Bulls impressed Helmut Marko and Christian Horner.
The writing was always on the wall for Perez in the latter stages of the season, especially as pressure built up in the media. Discussing this period in an interview with AS Colombia, former F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya believes there was one race that became the turning point for Perez.
Juan Pablo Montoya says the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was turning point for Sergio Perez
After announcing his contract renewal, Perez’s season was largely characterised by a series of unforced errors that put him at the back of the grid for races on Sunday.
Red Bull bosses were supposed to replace him after the summer break, but they wanted to see how he fared at Azerbaijan, given it has historically been a successful track for Perez. While Perez ran in the top three for most of the race, on the penultimate lap, he collided with Carlos Sainz and threw away both of their chances of scoring a podium.
“If you look at what happened to Checo. If Checo had ended on the podium in Baku, suddenly, the story would have changed,” said Montoya.
“But he didn’t end on the podium, it was a crash with Carlos Sainz at the end, and all the time that Checo took [catching Leclerc and Piastri] disappeared. It was like everything disappeared.”
Sergio Perez would be ‘glorified reserve’ if he stayed at Red Bull
Perez has severed ties with Red Bull altogether after his position became untenable, while Red Bull also threatened to make the Mexican a ‘glorified reserve driver’ if he stayed.
This would have entailed more media commitments and a requirement for him to complete tests in-season, and likely overnight work on the simulator.
READ MORE: Who is Red Bull Racing F1 driver Liam Lawson? Everything you need to know
Perez has a family, so it would have likely not been a lucrative position, given the number of hours he already spends away as a full-time driver. Lawson is seen as the ideal candidate to take over Perez, given he has proven he can go up against some F1’s biggest names.
Marko believes Lawson will be able to go up against Max Verstappen after the team snubbed the more experienced Yuki Tsunoda, largely due to the team feeling like he would struggle with the Dutchman as his teammate.
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