Sergio Pérez will remain with Red Bull Racing until at least the end of the 2026 Formula One season after signing a two-year contract extension.
Pérez, 34, was out of contract at the end of the year, but a string of impressive performances at the start of the season helped accelerate talks in recent weeks ahead of Red Bull announcing the contract extension Tuesday.
OFFICIAL: Sergio Pérez signs a two-year contract extension with @redbullracing, keeping him at the team until at least the end of the 2026 season pic.twitter.com/QTEsOcLF1W
— Luke Smith (@LukeSmithF1) June 4, 2024
Perez, known as Checo, has raced for Red Bull since 2021, scoring five wins and contributing to its constructors’ championship victories in the past two years. Pérez finished as runner-up in last year’s drivers’ championship behind teammate Max Verstappen.
“I am delighted to be staying here to continue our journey together and contribute to this team’s great history for two more years,” Pérez said in a statement. “Being part of the team is an immense challenge, and one I love.
“We have a great challenge this year and I have full trust in the whole team that the future is bright here and I am excited to be part of it.”
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Red Bull team principal Christian Horner felt it was “an important time” for Red Bull to lock in its driver lineup for next year, with Verstappen under contract until 2028.
“Continuity and stability are important for the team,” Horner said. “Checo and Max are a successful and robust partnership, securing our first ever one-two finish for the team in the championship last year.”
Why Red Bull opted to stick with Pérez
Red Bull could have had its pick of free agents for next year given its recent domination in F1. But in the end, it opted to stick with Pérez for a fifth season, as well as ensuring he will remain part of its team through to the new cycle of F1 car design rules that will start in 2026.
Pérez’s future has faced regular scrutiny during his time at Red Bull, particularly in light of the gulf in performance to Verstappen off the garage. Verstappen won 19 races last year to Pérez’s two as the Mexican suffered a mid-season dip in performance, picking up only one podium in the final eight races.
But Pérez returned for 2024 with a shift in mindset, experimenting less with the setup of his car in a bid to catch up with Verstappen, and instead, focusing more on maximizing his own results. He said in Australia he felt “a lot more together” with the car, something reflected in his three second-place finishes in the first four races of the season.
These performances helped convince Red Bull that continuity would be the best for its lineup. Pérez is well-liked within the team and has enjoyed a largely civil relationship with Verstappen across the garage during their time together.
Although Pérez has struggled in the last couple of races, finishing eighth at Imola and dropping out in the first stage of qualifying before getting caught up in a first-lap crash in Monaco, Horner has shown little sign of concern over his form.
Horner said after the race in Monaco that Red Bull “need to make sure that we have got both cars up there scoring points, because we cannot dismiss the threat of Ferrari and McLaren in both championships.”
The two-year contract should provide Pérez a level of stability that has been missing at points in his F1 career, and was something he thrived upon in 2022 when he last signed a multi-year extension with Red Bull.
What this means for the F1 driver market
Red Bull’s vacant seat was one of the most coveted on the grid for 2025 given the team’s recent domination of F1, meaning confirmation of Pérez has big ramifications on the driver market.
The driver this most affects is Carlos Sainz, who had been looking to remain with a front-running team following his departure from Ferrari at the end of the year. It is understood that concerns within Red Bull over past friction with Verstappen during their season together as rookies at Toro Rosso in 2015 played a part in any deal not being seriously pursued.
With Red Bull now shut off and Mercedes looking increasingly likely to sign teen protege Andrea Kimi Antonelli as Lewis Hamilton’s replacement for next year, it means Sainz has been frozen out of the top teams on the current grid. His most realistic options are now Sauber, which will become Audi in 2026, or Williams, with both teams making the Spaniard their number-one target for next season.
Confirmation for Pérez also puts an end to Daniel Ricciardo’s hopes of a return to Red Bull in the near future. Upon his return to F1 last year with Red Bull’s sister team, now known as RB, Ricciardo was clear in his desire to get back to the senior squad, only for him to struggle for performance through the early part of this season.
Red Bull is yet to confirm its driver plans for RB in 2025, but Yuki Tsunoda has been impressive this year with regular points finishes. Ricciardo finished fourth in the Miami sprint race, and has shown flashes of pace, but is yet to record a Sunday points haul.
Red Bull also has reserve driver Liam Lawson as part of its program, and his stock remains high after an impressive five-race stint deputizing for the injured Ricciardo last year.
Pérez’s renewal is the second announcement this week concerning the driver market for this year after Alpine confirmed on Monday that Esteban Ocon will leave the team at the end of the season.
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(Photo: Nicolas Tucat / AFP via Getty Images)
