Red Bull Racing is officially looking for a new teammate for Max Verstappen.
The team announced Wednesday that Sergio Perez would not be back with the team in 2025. The announcement isn’t much of a surprise; reports had emerged at the conclusion of the 2024 season that Perez’s future with the team was in doubt.
“I’m incredibly grateful for the past four years with Oracle Red Bull Racing and for the opportunity to race with such an amazing team,” Perez said in a statement. “Driving for Red Bull has been an unforgettable experience and I’ll always cherish the successes we achieved together. We broke records, reached remarkable milestones, and I’ve had the privilege of meeting so many incredible people along the way.”
Perez’s departure comes after an extremely disappointing season. Verstappen won his fourth straight world championship but Red Bull finished third in the constructor’s standings behind McLaren and Ferrari largely because of Perez’s struggles.
Perez, 34, finished eighth in the standings and was 71 points behind Lewis Hamilton in seventh. He had just four podium finishes and all four of them came over the first five races of the season.
After finishing no lower than fourth through the first six races of 2024, Perez never finished higher than sixth the rest of the season as Red Bull’s car dominance disappeared. Perez scored just one point over the final five Grand Prix races and the last two races of the season ended with a DNF.
Over the previous three seasons, Perez won five races for Red Bull and was second in the 2023 points standings to Verstappen. He scored 29 podiums in four seasons with Red Bull after winning the first race of his career with the current Aston Martin team during the 2020 season.
Red Bull didn’t announce Perez’s replacement on Wednesday. That driver will likely be either Liam Lawson or Yuki Tsunoda. The two finished the season driving for the junior RB team after Lawson replaced Daniel Ricciardo during the season. If one of them are promoted, junior driver Isack Hadjar could be the replacement at RB for 2025.
