Red Bull won’t make a decision any time soon about who will partner Max Verstappen next season, according to team principal Christian Horner.
Asked during today’s FIA press conference how close the team is to announcing its drivers for next year, Horner said: “Not very, I’m afraid.”Lewis Hamilton’s surprise announcement during the off-season that he will drive for Ferrari next year triggered early moves on the market for 2025. Last week Aston Martin announced it had signed a new deal with Fernando Alonso for next year.
“It’s incredible that we’re at race five and there’s so much talk already about drivers for next year,” Horner continued.
“We’re in a situation where we’re very happy with our two drivers. But we don’t need to make a final decision about the line-up until much later in the year.”
The team has Verstappen under contract for next year but his current team mate, Sergio Perez, is out of contract at the end of the season. “But he’s been driving exceptionally well so far this season,” Horner acknowledged.
Perez’s future looked uncertain during his poor 2023 campaign but he has helped the team score three one-two finishes already this season. Asked why he was driving better Horner joked: “Probably because he’s out of contract!
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“No, I think he’s worked hard over the winter. He’s come in with a change, perhaps, slightly to his approach to grand prix weekends and he’s been very close in the four races so far this season. Particularly at a track like Suzuka, where last year he struggled quite a bit, certainly this year he was very competitive.”
Perez previously indicated he expected to announce his 2025 plans in the near future. “Of course, he would like to make an announcement tomorrow, undoubtedly,” said Horner. “But we as a team aren’t in a particular rush.
“We’re in a fortunate position where many drivers would obviously like to drive for the team, but we’re happy with the pairing that we have, we just want to make sure that the level of consistency that Checo has started with this season maintains, and in due course, we’ll evaluate those options.
“But, as I say, at this point in time, we’re very happy with the line-up that we have. So there’s no imminent rush to announce the full driver line-up for 2025.”
Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko claimed this week the team had been out-bid for Carlos Sainz Jnr’s services by Audi, who will join F1 in 2026. Sainz was previously a member of Red Bull’s Junior Team and made his debut in F1 with Toro Rosso, which is now RB.
However Horner said any talk of approaches made to other drivers is “pure speculation.”
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“We have no idea if and what Audi have offered Carlos, who’s a key driver that’s on the open market, so it’s only natural that there’s going to be significant interest,” he said.
“I’m sure Audi would be foolish not to consider a driver of his quality amongst others that have seats available, but it would be improper to disclose what offers are made. That’s something that’s not been disclosed to us, as to what offers have been made other teams.”
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2024 Chinese Grand Prix
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PacificPR (@streydt)
19th April 2024, 17:42
Really curious to see who will get the seat next to Perez.
An Sionnach
19th April 2024, 18:25
Very funny! In a hypothetical situation where that happened, I wouldn’t mind it if Perez ended up the team leader. I still think Checo is a legend. It would be a completely unnecessary show of appreciation for his service to Red Bull. It might also be a little too hopeful as the other teams might be so close that they need a top driver to win.
It might be unlikely that Max would leave, and less likely that Perez would then be the lead driver. Other situations I wouldn’t mind would be any number of other drivers getting a go in the car for 2025, particularly Alonso, and Sainz of course. For Sainz, it might not be good to accept a move to Red Bull if Max is in the other car. He should be tough enough to give it a good run, but, since he is young he can afford to go to another team that might give him a better car than the one Max is in.
Electroball76
20th April 2024, 1:02
Logan Sargeant as Perez teammate (in the Williams)?
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
19th April 2024, 18:25
So far it’s a no brainer to keep perez, however let’s not forget he was also really good, in fact even better, in the first few races last year, so like horner said they need to see if he can keep that form up for at least half a season.
If it turns to disaster, which I doubt, I think sainz makes the most sense: if he doesn’t join red bull he will end up getting a massive car downgrade and he should still be a bit better than perez; ricciardo will have to work hard now to even keep his current seat, and tsunoda probably would have to beat a higher rated driver than ricciardo is lately to get seriously considered for red bull.
An Sionnach
19th April 2024, 18:32
I expect the verdict was reached on Yuki a long time ago. He would have to be consistently fast and adjust his temperament substantially not to be a liability. One thing I was surprised at was that there was no sanction for Yuki for his aggressive driving around Ricciardo in Bahrain. Much worse than anything Alonso did or didn’t do.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
19th April 2024, 22:15
Yes, I think tsunoda’s problem is the fact he got comprehensively outperformed by gasly, who, lest we forget, wasn’t able to adapt to the red bull car and demoted in a season, so a good midfield driver who didn’t shine in a top car so far, and to change red bull’s mind he would have to beat a driver of that caliber.
Aquila_GD
19th April 2024, 19:28
Again Helmut talking BS to try to prevent Sainz from coming to RB.
RB should really not delay their decision otherwise they lose out on the best available drivers on the grid
MichaelN
19th April 2024, 20:11
Pérez has been so ‘exceptional’ that the only time Red Bull didn’t dominate, he finished 5th just two places ahead of Tsunoda. Sainz is the obvious pick here. Reunite the duo. It’ll be fun, and Sainz is in every way an upgrade over Pérez. Verstappen will still come out on top, but it’ll be closer – and thus – more fun for us.
It’s astounding how many team principals want to be paid millions yet can’t handle two 20-something drivers.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
19th April 2024, 22:19
That was indeed not a good performance by perez, but we don’t really know how good the car was in the race because of verstappen’s problem: if by any chance verstappen hadn’t been able to beat any ferrari, then 5th wouldn’t have been a disaster for perez.
Sainz should be an upgrade, yes, but they really have no reason to replace perez, as I see it: it’s not like verstappen is winning and perez is getting eliminated in q1 and then crashing into someone while recovering in the race and retiring like last year, he’s doing the number 2 job, there’s a saying “if it isn’t broken don’t fix it”, ofc for us fans it’d be better to have a more competitive 2nd driver, but alonso would’ve been my pick.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
19th April 2024, 22:20
Oh, well, with verstappen in the race, perez would’ve been 6th though.