Red Bull driver Sergio Perez will be out of contract at the end of the 2024 season.
Another significant F1 development is the report that Alex Albon will take Sergio Perez’s seat at Red Bull for the 2025 season. Although the 34-year-old Mexican had been in talks with team management about a potential contract extension, it now seems as though his future has already been determined.
According to F1 pundit Peter Windsor, Albon—who was reduced to the position of test driver after driving for Christian Horner’s team in 2019 and 2020—will unexpectedly rejoin Max Verstappen: “As far as I’m aware, Albon has received an offer from Red Bull for a three-year contract that will begin in 2025,” he posted on his YouTube channel.
Thus, I believe you will witness him riding in the Red Bull with Max Verstappen. I find it impossible that he will refuse it. As far as I can tell, it’s 90% accurate rather than 100%.
After beginning the season with the development team Toro Rosso and competing in 12 races, Albon was elevated to the starting lineup with the Austrian-British team in 2019. The following year, he kept his seat, placing seventh in the drivers’ standings after twice taking home the podium.
He signed with Williams in 2021 after a year in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, but had a challenging season, scoring just four points. However, he made great progress last year, finishing seven times in the top ten and scoring 29 points.
With Lewis Hamilton leaving Mercedes at the end of the season to join Ferrari, Perez is now probably a contender to take over at Mercedes as a result of the news. That’s even though he supported Horner and company to a second consecutive constructors’ championship and finished second behind teammate Verstappen in the previous season.
After winning two of the first four Grand Prix races, he signaled his ambitions with a title challenge of his own, but it never happened. Additionally, ever since the Dutchman disobeyed team orders and refused to give up his spot to “Checo” in the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix, his chilly relationship with Verstappen has been in the public eye.
Verstappen had “shown his true colours,” according to an enraged Perez over team radio. Horner, however, later refuted reports of a rift between the two. However, when Verstappen and Perez met in person following Perez’s victory in Saudi Arabia last year, Verstappen’s father Jos conspicuously declined to congratulate Perez.
But with Carlos Sainz Jr. expected to be up for grabs, Perez will now have to contend with competition for the top spot. Following his announcement on Friday, Hamilton confirmed that he was going to be leaving Ferrari to give the British driver a space.
In any case, Wolff will be without a possible choice if Albon does decide to join Red Bull. The 27-year-old has been tipped to join the Silver Arrows and rejoin George Russell, his former Williams teammate, but it looks the Mercedes owner won’t even have him on the roster going forward.
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