Sergio Perez's Father Drops Big Hint On His Son's Next Career Move After Red Bull Exit

Saajan Jogia | 17 Hours Ago

Oct 19, 2024; Austin, Texas, USA; Oracle Red Bull Racing driver Sergio Perez (11) of Team Mexico waves to the crowd during a fan forum before the Sprint Race in the 2024 Formula One US Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Sergio Perez's father, Antonio Perez, has dropped a big clue on his son's future in Formula 1 after Red Bull recently announced his departure and declared Liam Lawson as Max Verstappen's teammate for the 2025 season. The difficult decision to part ways with the Mexican driver was taken together by Red Bull and its shareholders in a meeting in the week following the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The revelation comes amid team principal Christian Horner's statement that Sergio will continue being a part of Red Bull in a non-driver role.

Red Bull signed a two-year contract extension with Sergio in June, but a drop in his performance raised serious concerns. The 34-year-old's pace not only suffered in qualifying but also during Grands Prix. While the RB20 F1 car encountered balance problems mid-season, where even Verstappen faltered, he still managed to step up after the problem was rectified, while Sergio's performance continued to decline. The contrast in pace to his teammate resulted in Red Bull losing the top two positions to McLaren and Ferrari in the Constructors' Championship.

Addressing Sergio's future, his father Antonio told Imagen Television Mexico that he will not move to another racing series but will remain in the premier class of motorsport. He hinted that his son was awaiting opportunities from the other teams in the future, and in the meantime, he would focus on his initiative, the Checo Perez Foundation. He said:

“I am sure he is going to do beautiful things through his foundation where he will unload all his energy but I am also telling you that the movie is not closed if a very good opportunity comes along for Formula 1. I am sure that Checo would take it but for any other category I am sure he would not."

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On the other hand, Horner admitted that while Sergio has been relieved of his duty of driving a Formula 1 car next season, he would still work with Red Bull. He told Talksport, as reported by RacingNews365:

“He’s still going to be involved with the team.

"He will be doing a couple of show runs with us during next year.

“But it was right for him – because it wasn’t enjoyable for him either, getting all this scrutiny and pressure and expectation every weekend.”

He added:

“He’s just had a really tough year this year and we sat down last week – we’d obviously been talking about it a little bit beforehand – and decided that it was right for both of us, just to step back, for him to step out of the car, take a bit of time with his family, work out what he what he wants to do."