Perez’s Red Bull future beyond Abu Dhabi “will be his decision”

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner suggested Sergio Perez may choose not to remain at the team next year after another point-less race in Qatar.

Perez spun out of the race on the 39th lap as the field prepared to restart. It was the seventh time this year he has failed to score in a grand prix.

Despite signing a contract extension with Red Bull earlier this year, following a promising start to the season, Perez has been dogged by questions over his future as his performance slumped in subsequent races. While Max Verstappen clinched the drivers’ championship a week ago in Las Vegas, Red Bull dropped out of contention for the constructors’ championship today, Perez having contributed just 26% of their points.

Speaking after today’s race Horner said Perez is not happy with his current performance and his future lies in his hands.

“Checo has been a wonderful driver for us, certainly in ’21, ’22, ’23,” he told Sky. “He contributed to Max’s championship, obviously in ’21, constructors championships in ’22, ’23. And most of all, he’s a great guy.

“He’s not enjoying the situation that he’s in at the moment. He knows the pressures of this business. We’re going to give him all the support that we can to the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi next weekend. And what he decides to do, that will be his decision at the end of the day.”

On Thursday Perez denied Red Bull management could demote him to their second team, RB. He has repeatedly insisted he will continue to drive for Red Bull in the future.

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But Horner indicated Perez is considering his future. “He’s old enough and wise enough to come to his own conclusions,” he said. “But there’s still a race to go and let’s get to the end of Abu Dhabi and then and then see where we’re at.”

Perez said he spun out today’s race as his engine delivered too much power when he accelerated prior to a restart. “Things were looking good at the time for me,” he said, “I was sitting in P5 and we were in the mix for the podium.

“Then as I was warming up the tyre, getting ready for the restart, I had a massive over-delivery as I was picking up the throttle out of turn 12. With cold tyres I couldn’t control it, it basically meant I lost the car and then lost drive from that point onwards.”