Sergio Perez looks set to be on the way out from Formula One and Red Bull after a torrid 2024 campaign.
Various reports after Sunday’s race in Qatar state that Red Bull are set to move on from the 34-year-old after the season finale in Abu Dhabi this weekend, despite a contract which lasts until the end of the 2025 F1 season.
The Mexican’s seat has been shrouded in uncertainty for some time, as he languishes 277 points behind teammate Max Verstappen in the standings with one grand prix remaining. His poor form means Red Bull are guaranteed to finish third in the constructors’ championship, despite Verstappen’s drivers’ title triumph.
But who is the leading candidate to replace Perez at Red Bull? Will Christian Horner look within the team’s wider ecosystem or further afield on the grid?
The Independent takes a look at the candidates to replace Perez at Red Bull:
Liam Lawson
The New Zealander, only promoted to the sister team RB to replace Daniel Ricciardo in September, is the favourite to be Verstappen’s teammate next year.
Lawson has impressed during his two short stints in F1: he deputised for an injured Ricciardo for five races last year and scored points in Singapore, while this season he has finished in the top-10 twice – in Austin and Sao Paulo.
Red Bull’s chief adviser Helmut Marko has made no secret of the fact that Lawson was brought in this year to see if he has the capability of stepping up into the main Red Bull seat in 2025. Lawson has made a strong and, at times, provocative impression on Red Bull, with his middle finger to Perez in Mexico indicating the 22-year-old is not afraid to ruffle some feathers.
But is he ready? Lawson will have raced in F1 just 11 times before next season – is that seriously enough experience to challenge Verstappen?
Just ask Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon – the Red Bull promotion can come too soon in one’s career.
Yuki Tsunoda
The highly-charged, popular Japanese driver has been at the Red Bull sister team since 2021 and is, at a minimum, signed on to stay at RB for 2025.
But Tsunoda wants more: namely, the second Red Bull seat. The 24-year-old has made that clear. He has finished in the top-10 nine times this year, his best-ever return in four seasons. So, what’s stopping this seemingly natural progression to the mothership?
The answer is Horner and, to a lesser extent, Marko. The Red Bull team principal has never been fully convinced by Tsunoda’s ability and temperament in the cockpit, while Marko has highlighted Tsunoda’s inconsistency as an obstacle to his path to a Red Bull seat.
For what it’s worth, Tsunoda is The Independent’s pick to step into the second seat at Red Bull in 2025. After four solid years in F1, the Japanese driver has earned his stripes and deserves his big-team opportunity.
He will drive in the Red Bull at the post-season test in Abu Dhabi where a strong showing could persuade Horner and Marko to give Tsunoda the chance he craves.
Isack Hadjar
A Red Bull junior driver, the French-Algerian driver is fighting hard to win this year’s Formula 2 championship. Going into the final round in Abu Dhabi this weekend, Hadjar trails championship leader Gabriel Borteleto (bound for Sauber in F1 next year) by just half-a-point. More so than the F1 constructors’ battle, that is the title really in the balance this weekend.
The 20-year-old has tested for Red Bull three times so far and is set to do so again in FP1 on Friday at the Yas Marina Circuit. A clean session will aid his cause for 2025, even though his focus will be on his F2 title ambitions.
A promotion next year looks forthcoming, but a spot at RB is the most likely option. Thrusting him straight into the Red Bull garage alongside four-time world champion Verstappen would be audacious to say the least. In reality, Hadjar’s career trajectory would be better suited to a spot at the sister team first.
But, at Red Bull, you never know…
Franco Colapinto
A month ago, Horner made an advance to Williams boss James Vowles about buying out the Argentine from his Williams deal, with prices in the range of £15m being mooted.
But that talk has cooled in recent weeks in correlation with Colapinto’s downturn in form.
The 21-year-old, promoted to replace Logan Sargeant after the Dutch Grand Prix but unable to vie for a Williams seat next year with Carlos Sainz’s arrival from Ferrari, impressed early on with two top-10 finishes in Baku and Austin.
Yet the running order of Formula One can alter rapidly. Three crashes in a row – in Sao Paulo, Las Vegas and Doha – have accentuated Colapinto’s inexperience. And, to the dismay of his huge fanbase, it may have cost him a spot on the grid in 2025.
