Sergio Perez had signed a Red Bull deal for 2025. The team handed him an extension in June ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix.
Perez kept repeating that he had a contract in his media appearances as he faced constant questions around his future. It was clear that Red Bull regarded his performance levels as unacceptable.
But with no performance clause to activate, they had to enter talks with the Mexican over a separation agreement. Those talks concluded around a week and a half after the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Red Bull then announced that Perez would leave the race team, with Liam Lawson replacing him. The 34-year-old will still take part in show runs in the team’s colours, but that will be the extent of their relationship.
According to reports, Red Bull had to pay Perez £11m to walk away. Going forward, they may be more patient before offering a driver fresh terms.
Perez had started the season well with four podiums in five races, but he was already starting to wobble before his extension. He’d finished eighth in Emilia Romagna after a Q2 exit, and then crashed out in Monaco following a Q1 elimination.
Sergio Perez would have been a ‘glorified reserve driver’ if he stayed at Red Bull
Crucially, Perez was a Red Bull employee rather than a full-time F1 driver. That meant the team could have redeployed him as a reserve if they desired.
Speaking on The Race F1 YouTube channel, journalist Scott Mitchell-Malm revealed that they threatened to turn the six-time Grand Prix winner into a ‘show pony’. That would likely have entailed promotional appearances and occasional test outings.
Red Bull’s threat implicitly made it clear that Perez’s position at the team was untenable. The relationship could have become toxic if it continued, which wouldn’t have benefitted either party – particularly when the driver was entitled to pay off anyway.
He may benefit from a year or more away from racing after a soul-destroying 2024. Perez is open to returning to F1 in the future, but only if the right proposal comes along.
“Perez was constantly deriding the speculation as fiction and insisting he had a contract,” Mitchell-Malm said. “After his lap-one retirement in the Abu Dhabi season finale, though, Perez’s tune finally changed. He admitted there would be discussions to resolve his situation.
“These December negotiations included Red Bull making it clear to Perez that if, he didn’t agree to move aside, his contract would be honoured in 2025 by making him a show pony and glorified reserve driver.”
Was one Red Bull colleague responsible for Sergio Perez’s 2024 woes?
Perez was surrounded by relentless speculation last year, and he would also have been aware of stinging external criticisms. He was far closer to the bottom of the championship (152 points) than he was to Max Verstappen (285 points).
One pundit says Perez needs to go back to ‘racing school’. It may be that he’s a driver who’s better suited to midfield teams – he also struggled in his single year at McLaren but he was consistently impressive at Sauber and Force India/Racing Point.
He’s not the first whose reputation has been wrecked by partnering Verstappen, and he’s unlikely to be the last. Red Bull are known to develop their cars to suit the world champion.
But there’s also a theory that Perez’s race engineer made things ‘ridiculously difficult’. Viaplay commentator Nelson Valkenburg noticed Hugh Bird repeatedly making judgement errors during qualifying sessions, which were one of the driver’s biggest problems in 2024.
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