Max Verstappen is preparing to defend the world championship at Red Bull next year. But he still hasn’t discovered the identity of his teammate.
In June, Verstappen expected to continue alongside Sergio Perez. The Mexican signed a new one-plus-one contract before his previous deal expired.
However, Perez’s future was uncertain once again before the summer break. Verstappen’s camp thought Daniel Ricciardo was returning, but Red Bull ultimately decided to stick with the incumbent in a post-Belgium meeting.
Yet when Liam Lawson replaced Ricciardo at the US GP last month, it was clear that he was auditioning for a Red Bull seat. Perez’s crisis has only deepened, with the gap to Verstappen now above 250 points.
Neither Lawson nor Perez (Franco Colapinto is also a Red Bull contender) will receive official confirmation on the team’s 2025 plans until next month. That could already put them on the back foot for next year.
But this is of little concern to Red Bull. In reality, this is team Verstappen, and they just need a driver who can consistently compete at the front rather than slipping into the midfield like Perez has this year.
Red Bull adamant they haven’t given Sergio Perez green light for 2025 merchandise
Earlier this month, MARCA reported that Perez was keeping his seat for 2025. He’s apparently attracted some ‘very powerful’ sponsors for the new season.
In what would have been a strong hint about his future, they also claimed that Perez had received the go-ahead to produce 2025 Red Bull merchandise. This would have inevitably crossed Christian Horner’s desk.
However, Motorsport NL’s Ronald Vording has dismissed these claims. He’s spoken to figures inside Red Bull, who told him the story was nonsense.
Red Bull will hold a meeting after the Abu Dhabi GP next weekend to make a final decision. Until then, there will only be speculation.
“Even though MARCA reports that Perez would bring extra sponsorship money and already has the green light for his 2025 merchandise, Red Bull is saying that is complete bulls**t,” Vording revealed. “In other words, everything will become real after Abu Dhabi.”
Sergio Perez keeps using one word and Red Bull won’t be happy about it
Perez admits he’s had a ‘terrible’ season but he doesn’t seem to have taken full ownership of the situation. Instead, he’s tried to paint it as a collective failing.
It’s true that Red Bull have lost performance since their dominant early rounds, and Verstappen’s dramatic complaints show that the car was far from compliant in the middle third of the season. But equally, he’s finished on the podium 13 times, and Perez has only scored points on 16 occasions.
In the pre-race press conference in Qatar, Perez kept using the word ‘we’. One journalist quipped that it could have formed the basis for a ‘drinking game’.
But Red Bull won’t be happy that he’s shifting some of the blame. Perhaps they would respond positively if he accepted responsibility.
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