Red Bull won’t bow to Audi F1 driver market pressure

The Milton Keynes-based team has a vacant slot for 2025 with Sergio Perez’s contract running out at the end of this season.

Perez has shown some improved potential this year and, off the back of finishing runner-up to Verstappen in the Japanese Grand Prix, he currently lies second in the drivers’ standings.

But Red Bull still wants to see if Perez can keep up this form long term, having started last season in similarly good shape before he endured a mid-year slump that prompted questions about his future.

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The squad has plenty of options available should it decide that it does not want to continue with Perez, as there are a host of leading drivers that are not yet locked down.

One avenue could be to keep things internal and promote Yuki Tsunoda from RB, with the Japanese youngster having delivered a strong start to the season that included a top 10 finish in his home race at Suzuka.

Autosport understands, however, that Red Bull is also evaluating other more experienced candidates.

Alex Albon is on its shortlist, but he is out of reach for 2025 because he is locked down to a contract with Williams, so would need to be bought out. As revealed earlier this year, Red Bull has asked for a first-refusal option on his services for 2026.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz is, however, a more serious candidate, with his race-winning form and impressive technical capabilities making him a no-brainer choice if Red Bull thinks it needs to do something different.

But the Sainz situation is complicated by the fact that Red Bull is not the only team that the Spaniard has options with.

Sources have revealed that factions within Aston Martin want him to join the Silverstone outfit for 2025 alongside Lance Stroll and lead it into the new F1 rules era from 2026, rather than continue with Fernando Alonso.

And then F1’s newest manufacturer Audi is also on the hunt for the drivers it wants for its entry in 2026, with Sainz having been one of its obvious targets for a while now.

Audi’s push to get its drivers in place as early as next year means that those who have options there may not be able to wait too long, and this means that they may have to lay down a deadline for Red Bull to make its call.

Red Bull insists that it is unmoved…