Sergio Perez has admitted he is aware that he “needs to perform” at this weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix amid mounting speculation over his Red Bull seat for F1 2025.

It comes after suggestions that Williams driver Franco Colapinto has agreed a deal to join the Red Bull family from next season.

Sergio Perez ‘need to perform’ at Las Vegas GP with Red Bull seat under threat

Despite signing a new two-year contract as recently as June, Perez has found his seat coming under mounting threat as a disastrous F1 2024 season has unfolded.

The Mexican remains without a podium finish since the Chinese Grand Prix in April and currently trails team-mate Max Verstappen by 242 points in the Drivers’ standings.

PlanetF1.com revealed over the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend that Red Bull team principal Christian Horner met with Williams boss James Vowles at Interlagos over a deal to sign Colapinto, who has impressed since replacing Logan Sargeant in late August.

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It came after Helmut Marko, the long-serving Red Bull adviser, indicated that a final decision on Perez’s future is to be made after the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix next month.

Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher claimed last week that a “pretty big deal” for Red Bull to sign Colapinto is now “fixed” with the team still to decide whether the Argentine will replace Perez or slot in at junior outfit VCARB for F1 2025.

Schumacher went on to suggest that Red Bull’s “very strong interest” in Colapinto has extended to “the highest level” at Red Bull, even going beyond Marko’s sphere of influence.

It has previously been suggested that Marko has been reluctant to place Colapinto at the senior team for F1 2025, with Horner pushing for the 21-year-old to replace Perez as Verstappen’s team-mate.

Speaking ahead of the Las Vegas GP, Perez – a street circuit specialist having triumphed in Saudi Arabia, Monaco, Baku and Singapore during his Red Bull career – admitted that he needs to “maximise” his “own performance” in Nevada.

And he claimed his poor result in Brazil, where he failed to reach Q3 in qualifying for both the sprint and main races despite receiving a new chassis, masked the progress he has made recently.

He said: “For me, it’s a track I enjoy.

“I like the street circuit experience, with the walls in tight and you cannot compare to driving down The Strip or towards the Sphere towering over you.

“While it’s a spectacle of a race, for everyone attending and watching back home, it’s one where I know I need to perform and maximise this car and my own performance.

“I’ve been working with the team and feel Sao Paulo was much more competitive than we where able to show, so let’s put it together for the last three [races].”

Verstappen, who won the inaugural Las Vegas GP last year, is on the brink of securing a fourth straight F1 title, currently holding a 62-point lead over McLaren driver Lando Norris entering the final triple header.

A latest title triumph would see the 27-year-old become only the second driver in F1 history after Red Bull icon Sebastian Vettel to win his first four World Championships in successive years.

Perez, who finished third in Vegas last year after losing second place to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc at the last corner of the last lap, added that teams will be more prepared for the challenges of the tricky street circuit this year.

He said: “We are coming into a very important weekend in Las Vegas for the team.

“This race last year was such an unknown, it was a brand-new race, it was a new surface to us all and we were in temperatures we never usually race in.

“We barely had any data in 2023, so this year we are approaching this street circuit with a lot more information and understanding.”

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