Surprising development: Horner confirms Perez will still drive for Red Bull
F1 News
Sergio Perez recently announced that he will no longer be Max Verstappen's teammate at Red Bull Racing in 2025. Still, it does not appear to be Perez's final appearance for the Milton Keynes-based squad, where he spent four seasons. Christian Horner tells TalkSport of a surprising development.
The Red Bull team boss, who, with Helmut Marko, took the decision to sideline Perez, reveals that the Mexican will still be in action for his team in 2025 by participating in a selection of show runs. Horner is yet to announce when and where that will be.
'It was the right decision for both of us'
While Perez steps down to be a Red Bull ambassador, he has time to think about the future, Christian Horner believes. "It was right for both of us just to step back for him to step out of the car and take a bit of time with his family and work out what he wants to do. He's still going to be involved with the team, he'll be doing a couple of show runs with us during next year. It was right for him because it wasn't enjoyable for him either, getting all this scrutiny and pressure and expectation every weekend," Horner explained.
In recent months, it had been reported that Red Bull was unable to get rid of Perez despite his poor performance. Horner, however, denies this. "He had signed a new contract, but of course, in those contracts, there are, you know, I'm not going to go into the details of the contract, but inevitably there are stipulations that are obligations between the team and the driver. So anyway, we sat down and we talked it through. And then, it's about relationships. And we've always had a great relationship with Sergio," he revealed.
'We just had a grown-up discussion'
The Red Bull team boss also explained that Perez was unhappy with his own performance in 2024. Still, he could see his former driver returning to the sport in the future. "By his own admission, he was 280 points behind his teammate this year, we lost the constructors championship by just over 70 points, so he knew that by his own high standards, it wasn't achieving what he wanted or what we needed as a team. So we just had a grown-up discussion about it. And, you know, he's a great guy. And, you know, he'll go away, work out what he wants to do. Maybe he'll want to come back to the sport in, you know, maybe next year even."
This article was written in collaboration with Ludo van Denderen
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