F1 | Red Bull: Sergio Perez’s renewal for 2025 is official

Red Bull and Sergio Perez, forward together. This evening the reigning Formula 1 world champion team announced that it had extended the agreement that binds it to the Mexican driver. The duration of the new agreement is 2 years, but it will be one year plus the option for the second and the team will be able to exercise it.

The news had been in the air for a few weeks by now, but tonight it was made official by the Milton Keynes team who, thus, decided to focus on continuity. The relationship between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez is what the team leaders are looking for: the great talent who must hunt for world titles and the good – at times excellent – second driver capable of bringing home the necessary points both for the chase for the Constructors’ championship title and to lend a hand to Verstappen if the Dutchman needed it.

On the other hand, Perez finished in second place in the 2023 Drivers’ World Championship, thus achieving the important objective of being vice world champion and certifying a sometimes embarrassing superiority (for its opponents) that the RB19 had over all the others.

“It is an important time to confirm our lineup for 2025 and we are very happy to continue working together with Checo,” said team principal Christian Horner.

“Continuity and stability are important to the team and both Checo and Max are a solid and successful partnership, securing our first ever championship double for the team last year. Checo has had a great start to the 2024 with second places in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Japan and then the podium in China.”

Perez added: “I am happy to stay here to continue our journey together and contribute to the great history of this team for another two years. Being part of the team is an immense challenge, which I love.”

“I want to thank everyone for the trust they are giving me, it’s a lot and I want to repay it with excellent results on and off the track”.

Perez, therefore, will embark on his fifth consecutive season as a Red Bull driver. Arriving at the beginning of 2021 to replace Alexander Albon, Perez ended the first season in fourth place overall with 190 points, before improving year after year.

In 2022 the points became 305 at the end of the year, a result which earned him third position in the Drivers’ World Championship. Last year, however, the points were 285 in total, but the final result rewarded him as vice world champion behind the usual, elusive Max Verstappen.

This year, after the usual promising start, Perez ran into some bad races starting from the Made in Italy and Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in Imola with a disappointing eighth place finish, not to mention the terrible accident in which he was the protagonist due to a reckless maneuver by Kevin Magnussen.

Perez currently occupies fifth position with 107 points, one less than Carlos Sainz who precedes him and 62 less than Max Verstappen, who leads the standings. Yet Red Bull still believes in him, also sponsored by Max Verstappen who considers him the perfect teammate: fast enough to annoy his rivals but not so fast as to be able to annoy him in the fight for the Drivers’ world title. A perfect mix that made it the best possible solution for a team that still suffers – and will suffer – from the internal shocks suffered between winter and spring with the Horner case and the farewell of Adrian Newey.

With the official renewal of Sergio Perez, the seats available for next season are further reduced. The Mercedes line up remains open, even if Andrea Kimi Antonelli is the main suspect to take the place of the 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. Ferrari and McLaren are already covered for 2025 and Aston Martin certainly will be too: Lance Stroll is unlikely to be on foot at the end of the current season.