25 September 2023 , 11:00
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Red Bull will be "exploring its options" when Sergio Perez's contract ends next year.
The Mexican's future with the team has been questioned for most of this season. He started strongly with two wins from the first four races, but hasn't tasted victory since and has provided an ineffectual challenge to team-mate Max Verstappen.
Perez's current deal ends next year and there will be no shortage of options to potentially replace him. Even just internally, Daniel Ricciardo has made no secret of his desire to return to the top Red Bull team, while Yuki Tsunoda also wants to make a case for consideration.
Liam Lawson is banging on the door for an AlphaTauri seat in Formula 1 and that could easily see one of those two drivers promoted to make room for the New Zealander. Team principal Christian Horner has regularly expressed his commitment to honouring Perez's full contract, but is making no promises about what will happen beyond that.
He said: "At Red Bull Racing we want the best two drivers that are available. We've got a long-term contract with Max [Verstappen]. Checo [Perez] is out of contract at the end of '24 and so you want to explore and see all of those options.
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"Checo is in the hot seat at the moment and will obviously be keen to extend. We'll see how Daniel does, we'll see how Yuki does and, in the background, we'll see what Liam is capable of in the test and reserve role."
Perez's race at Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix was nothing short of a calamity. He started fifth on the grid and with a spot on the podium in sight, but things began to go wrong from the moment the lights went out.
He collided with Lewis Hamilton before the first corner, causing damage to his own front wing. He pitted at the end of the first lap for a replacement, but later broke that one when he slammed into the side of Kevin Magnussen's Haas.
The 33-year-old had already served one penalty for a safety car infringement and was given another for causing that collision. Red Bull retired his car before exploiting a loophole in the rules to bring him back out on track to serve his other penalty and then retire again, avoiding a punishment at the next race in Qatar.
That clever use of the rules was, Horner said, "the only good thing" about Perez's day. Describing it as a "shocker" of a race, he added: "It got off to a bad start... And then of course he divebombed one of the Haases and so it was just one of those weekends."