Sergio Perez is either completely safe in his Red Bull Racing seat until next season or teetering on the edge of Formula 1 depending on who you ask.
Officially, Sergio Perez has already signed a contract that will see him drive for Red Bull until the end of the 2025 season, with the option for an extra year.
However, rather ominously, the only available seat for next season is at sister team RB.
Yuki Tsunoda is tied down to a deal for 2025, but Liam Lawson is being left in limbo.
The young Kiwi stepped in for Daniel Ricciardo after the Singapore Grand Prix and was given six races by senior figures within the team to prove he deserved a full-time gig in F1.
Two 9th-place finishes in three races have all but secured him a seat on the grid, but which seat is still up for debate?
Lawson is being linked with Perez’s Red Bull seat, however, nothing is set to be decided until the end of the season.
Journalist Alex Kalinauckas was speaking on the Flat Chat with Codders Podcast about the 34-year-old’s situation.
It’s safe to say that the team may not just be unhappy with his results this season.
Red Bull ‘pretty furious’ with Sergio Perez’s crash record this season
Talking about the Mexican driver’s situation, Kalinauckas said: “When it comes to Perez, there was a lot of speculation around the Brazilian Grand Prix just gone that Franco Colapinto could potentially be an option for Red Bull, whether that was joining the RB team, as was first supposed, and then the sort of more suggestive, more fiery rumours pointing that Christian Horner could even be considered putting him straight in at Red Bull alongside Max Verstappen.
“He had a terrible crash there, and that will have had to be taken into account because I’m told at Red Bull, they’re pretty furious that Sergio Perez is unofficially leading the Crash Damage World Championship, although probably the Williams drivers are getting close to him.
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“Maybe the Red Bull parts are worth a little bit more, I don’t know.
“With the Brazilian weekend, the sort of thinking there was, wow, Perez really is in trouble.
“Even Christian Horner, who’s got this fierce, personal loyalty to him, is really getting sick of the fact that he can’t get close to Max Verstappen enough to make certain of a Constructors’ Championship, which doesn’t look like Red Bull are going to win.
“If they can’t win it this year, there’s no way they’re going to win it next year with the same lineup if the front of the grid is close again.”
Why money seems to be at the centre of Sergio Perez’s Red Bull future
With three races remaining, Perez is likely to stay at the top of the crash damage standings unless either Williams driver finds the barriers at the tricky street circuit in Las Vegas.
Perez topped the damage championship back in June, meaning his record of avoiding the barriers hasn’t improved in recent months.
| Race | Session | What happened? |
| Emilia Romagna GP | FP3 | Hit the barriers at Variante Alta |
| Monaco GP | Race | Crash with Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg |
| Canadian GP | Race | Hit the barriers at turn six |
| British GP | Qualifying | Span off at Copse |
| Hungarian GP | Qualifying | Hit the barriers at turn eight |
| Azerbaijan GP | Race | Crash with Carlos Sainz |
| Mexico City GP | Race | Collision with Liam Lawson |
In stark contrast, Pierre Gasly has caused no crash damage and is the only driver on the grid to have achieved that feat.
Staff bonuses are determined by where a team finishes in the Constructors’ Championship and Red Bull look set to miss out on the title due to Perez’s struggles.
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Perez also brings vast sponsorship to Red Bull which will pay for any damage he’s caused but won’t come close to covering the windfall the team have missed out on in prize money.
Red Bull face a conundrum and while sticking with the Mexican looks like the expected outcome at this stage, until Lawson puts pen to paper on an RB deal and Franco Colapinto’s future is confirmed, nothing is set in stone for Perez.
