Breaking: Red Bull driver saga over as Perez future decided

Sergio Perez has unsurprisingly left Red Bull following a wretched end to the past season.

Perez’s time with the Milton Keynes-based team is over after it missed out on retaining its constructors’ championship, finishing third, 77 points behind McLaren, resulting in a significant drop in revenue.

After finishing second in the drivers’ standings to team-mate Max Verstappen in 2023 – the first time the team had secured a one-two in its history – Perez started this season well with four podiums in the first five races.

The Mexican’s form, however, dipped alarmingly since he was fourth in the Chinese Grand Prix. He failed to finish in the top three in the remaining 18 races, scoring a paltry 49 points over that period.

Perez, who signed a new one-plus-one contract in early June, was handed a reprieve after the Belgian Grand Prix just before the summer break when team boss Christian Horner informed staff the 34-year-old would continue to the end of the season.

But aside from a battling performance in the Azerbaijan GP in which he crashed out late on in fighting for a podium with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, Perez failed to deliver.

A team statement read: “After four successful seasons together, and following the conclusion of the longest F1 season in history, Sergio Perez and Red Bull Racing have reached an agreement to part ways for 2025. 

“Checo joined Red Bull Racing for the 2021 season and across four seasons and 90 race starts with the team, the Mexican racer enjoyed the most successful spell of his 13 years in F1. 

“As well as scoring five wins, including victory at the Monaco Grand Prix and a pair of Azerbaijan Grand Prix wins that earned him a reputation as ‘F1’s King of the Streets’, Checo helped the team to two Constructors’ Championship titles, in 2022 and 2023. 

“As a title runner-up in his own regard last year, he also sealed the team’s first one-two finish in the Drivers’ standings.”

Red Bull added that its 2025 F1 driver line-up will be announced in due course.