Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has hinted the team could make a change to its 2025 Formula 1 driver line-up, despite the choice to retain Sergio Perez past the break.
Red Bull’s decision to give Perez a multi-term contract renewal last month appeared to have secured the squad’s driver pairing through F1’s regulation change in 2026.
However, Perez’s extended deal has been unable to inspire an upturn in results as his ongoing plight has seen him score 28 points in eight rounds up to the shutdown.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner called Perez’s return “unsustainable” at Silverstone as his plight has seen McLaren reduce its margin in the championship to 42 points.
But while Red Bull’s senior personnel met earlier this week to evaluate Perez’s position, the Mexican has been granted a reprieve to remain alongside Max Verstappen.
“Checo remains a Red Bull Racing driver, despite all the speculation of late,” Horner said.
“We’re looking forward to seeing him perform at circuits where he’s done well before, after the summer break.”
Red Bull’s decision has meant that Daniel Ricciardo will not make his desired Red Bull return at Zandvoort, though it has also been settled that he’ll retain his RB drive.
“Perez is staying. We want to get him back to his old form,” Marko added to F1 Insider. “Ricciardo is also staying. Nothing will change.”
But the Australian remains in the unprecedented position where his showings could either land him a promotion to the parent team or he could be dropped altogether.
Liam Lawson, who is Red Bull’s reserve driver and impressed when he covered Ricciardo’s period on the sidelines last season, could be in line to partner Yuki Tsunoda.
Marko has been on record as saying that Red Bull’s shareholders are eager to see youth integrated back into Red Bull’s sister side, which was rebranded to RB in 2024.
The Austrian has heightened rumours that neither Perez nor Ricciardo’s current positions within Red Bull are secure, citing “the cards will be reshuffled again for 2025.”
Nonetheless, talking to media including Motorsport Week in Belgium, Horner was adamant that the reigning champions want to avoid a premature end to Perez’s deal.
“Nobody wants to make that decision,” Horner stressed. “You know, I mean, obviously you guys talk about it every day. But in the team, we want to get him going.”
He added: “Checo’s had a tough run over the last few races.
“And what’s so confusing for us is the season started so well for him.
“We need to go through and understand you know, the issues in the in the race. So we got the time to do that and analyse that and, you know, work with him.”
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