Sergio Perez ‘in talks’ over racing in another category if he loses Formula 1 seat at Red Bull

Sergio Perez won’t have a fallback option within Formula 1 if he loses his Red Bull drive. He arrives at the Las Vegas Grand Prix with his future still uncertain.

Red Bull are planning to sign Franco Colapinto from Williams and place him next to Max Verstappen. If they can’t agree a deal, then Liam Lawson could receive a promotion from RB.

But Perez’s management believe his contract is watertight. And it’s unclear how exactly Christian Horner and Helmut Marko could back out of the agreement they made in June.

In theory, they could pay their beleaguered second driver off, but Perez wants more than £15m to walk away. The team will already take the hit of losing his sponsorship revenue, and potentially finishing third in the constructors’ standings, so that’s a significant outlay.

Unlike Daniil Kvyat or Pierre Gasly, Perez won’t have the safety net of junior team RB. There’s no indication that’s even a possibility as Red Bull look to the future.

There was talk that Perez was a candidate for Sauber, having started his F1 career with the Swiss team. However, they’ve now signed F2 title contender Gabriel Bortoleto to partner Nico Hulkenberg.

Sergio Perez in talks over Formula E seat if he loses Red Bull F1 drive

Speaking to FOX Sports, Formula E co-founder Alberto Longo confirmed that he was holding talks with Perez over joining the series. He wants to recruit a Mexican driver for the sport.

Pato O’Ward, who appeared for McLaren in FP1 at the Mexico City Grand Prix, will carry out a demonstration run when Formula E visits the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in January. But he’s already committed to IndyCar for 2025.

Former Haas and Sauber driver Esteban Gutierrez briefly featured in the all-electric series during the 2016/17 season. Seven of the 10 champions had previously raced in F1, including the title holder Pascal Wehrlein.

“Among other things, we also have Pato O’Ward, who is coming to do an exhibition during the day of the festival,” Longo said. “Pato is a national hero.

“We already had Esteban in his day. We are still in talks with Checo to see if one day he wants to come with us. We definitely want to give the Mexican public a Mexican hero and Pato, in that sense, is going to be a wonderful job.”

Why Red Bull staff may want to see the back of Sergio Perez

This is yet another sign that Perez may only be three races from the end of his F1 career. He publicly maintains that he’ll be on the grid in 2025 but he’s clearly putting contingency plans in place.

Nestle may have withdrawn their backing for Perez, having agreed to make KitKat F1’s official chocolate bar. Journalist Joe Saward suspects they’re redistributing their marketing budget.

For the second time in four seasons, Max Verstappen is set to win the drivers’ title while Red Bull miss out on the constructors’ championship. In 2021, the battle went to the final race, but Verstappen could seal it with two rounds to spare this time.

Red Bull staff are set to lose 40% of their bonuses if they finish third. That could lead to an anti-Perez groundswell at Milton Keynes given that he’s only scored around a quarter of their points.