Declaring where “there is smoke, there’s usually fire”, Zak Brown believes Max Verstappen will have a new team-mate next season with Sergio Perez leaving Red Bull.

Perez’s future with Red Bull was thrown into doubt during the 2024 championship when the Mexican driver fell short of expectations.

Max Verstappen ‘will’ have a new team-mate in 2025 says Zak Brown

Although he started the season strong, scoring four podiums in the first five races, that’s where his champagne celebrations stopped as his form went into a downward spiral.

Scoring just two points in the last five races, Red Bull went into the off-season intent on holding talks with the driver and their shareholders about their 2025 plans.

Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko revealed a decision would be made on the Monday after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix but that Red Bull would only reveal it later in the week.

Four days later, fans are still waiting.

According to speculation from pundits, Perez and Red Bull’s lawyers are working on a resolution, one that could cost Red Bull anything from 16 to 75 million. But while the buyout sum is up for debate, the one thing everyone seems to agree on is that Perez’s time as a Red Bull driver is over.

Even McLaren CEO Brown believes so.

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Speaking to Sky News about Red Bull’s reigning World Champion Max Verstappen, who beat McLaren’s Lando Norris to the 2024 Drivers’ title, Brown said Red Bull could’ve also taken the Constructors’ Championship if they’d had two drivers on Verstappen’s level.

As such he says the Dutchman “will” have a new team-mate come the start of next season.

“He is a four-time World Champion, he does have a fantastic car,” said the American. “He had a team-mate that wasn’t quite on the pace. If you had a team-mate at his level, they would have been right in the mix at the last race of the year.

“He’s done an unbelievable job. Full credit to a four-time World Champion. It’s a mega team.

“It looks like maybe he will have a new team-mate next year. Where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire. There’s a lot of noise about that.”

Liam Lawson is reportedly the favourite to replace Perez as Verstappen’s 2025 with Isack Hadjar stepping up from Formula 2 to Formula 1 in the second Racing Bulls’ seat alongside Yuki Tsunoda.

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