Sergio Perez’s manager delivers ‘very upset’ Red Bull verdict that Yuki Tsunoda won’t want to hear

Sergio Perez enjoyed and then endured four seasons driving for Red Bull Racing before seeing his spell with the Anglo-Austrian team brought to a premature end.

The final races of Sergio Perez’s time with Red Bull were hard to watch, as a driver who had previously won six Grand Prix and finished second in the drivers’ championship could barely challenge for a top 10 finish.

Red Bull extended Perez’s contract until the end of 2025 halfway through last season, but had to cut his time with the team short due to how far off Max Verstappen’s level he was.

He was nearly 300 points off the Dutchman on his way to finishing eighth in the standings, and Liam Lawson was initially hired as his replacement.

The young New Zealander lasted just two races before it was Yuki Tsunoda’s turn to see if he had what it takes to be Red Bull’s number two driver.

Tsunoda has heard positive noises around his immediate Red Bull future but has yet to pull up any trees in his first six races with the team.

Sergio Perez’s manager has now shared with journalist and commentator Harry Benjamin how he felt his client was treated last season, and the Japanese driver must take notice of what he said if things don’t improve soon.

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Sergio Perez’s manager sends Red Bull warning amid Yuki Tsunoda’s tough start to 2025

Benjamin was speaking on the Chequered Flag Podcast and recalled a conversation he had in the paddock at the Monaco Grand Prix.

He explained: “I caught up with one of Sergio Perez’s managers earlier in the paddock.

“Just having a chat, as we were looking at the massive Red Bull energy station that’s built sort of outside the paddock, we’re not allowed on it unless you have a Red Bull pass.

“It’s a proper sort of work of art, really, that place. He, and look, obviously this is coming from one side of the story, but he was referring to Perez, very upset and annoyed at the team with how they treated him and in a bigger picture of how they treat their second drivers.

“If you reflect back to last year, there were rumours swirling around about how Sergio Perez wasn’t performing and therefore Red Bull weren’t going to win the constructors’ championship and that meant lots of staff weren’t going to get bonuses and all this kind of thing.

“And this is a team sport, Red Bull have got to be in it to win it.

“But they’ve also said that they don’t care about the constructors’ championship. It’s all about the drivers and the number one is Max Verstappen. So which one is it for a start?”

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Harry Benjamin has heard ‘talk’ about Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull future

While Tsunoda’s best finish since arriving at Red Bull is P6 in the Sprint Race in Miami, that was partly due to the number of penalties handed out to other drivers that day.

He’s yet to finish in the top eight of a full-length Grand Prix, while Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar continues to turn heads in the paddock.

Talking about the driver situation, Benjamin continued: “There is now talk of Hadjar already being teed up to maybe go in that seat next year.

“But you almost want to say to him, just maybe stay in the Racing Bulls. I know they have no choice over the matter because they all sign a Red Bull contract and it’s where they’re placed.

“But it’s just something that’s not right with whatever’s going on, the gelling between the number two driver and the car and the team, and all the other politics that comes with it.

“So, I understand why Yuki was probably being fairly tight-lipped with you in the pen.”