Horner confirms Tsunoda and Lawson ‘would be the candidates’ to replace Perez for 2025

Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner has given his clearest indication yet as to who would fill Sergio Perez’s seat at the team in 2025 should Red Bull and Perez decide to part company.

Having netted four podiums in the first five Grands Prix of 2024, Perez endured a trying rest of the season, scoring just 49 points between round seven in Imola and round 24 in Abu Dhabi – less than he’d scored in the first four race weekends of the year.

That saw Red Bull slump to P3 in the constructors’ by season end, behind winners McLaren and Ferrari, and despite Max Verstappen winning the title two rounds early. Indeed, had the second Red Bull accrued the same number of points (437) as Verstappen, the team would have won the constructors’ by over 200 points.

Despite Red Bull having handed Perez a two-year contract extension in June, the Mexican’s performance has led to talk that he could be replaced for 2025 – with Horner implying that his choice would be between current RB drivers Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda, who had his first ever Red Bull test in Abu Dhabi earlier this week.

Asked about the performance of Lawson in 2025 – the New Zealander having replaced Daniel Ricciardo at RB from the United States Grand Prix – Horner replied: “I think Liam, in challenging circumstances, has done a very good job. If you analyse what he’s done in the time that he’s had and the race pace he’s had, I think he’s done a good job.

“I think Yuki’s done a good job, so in the event that anything were decided with Checo they would be the candidates we would look towards.”

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Horner also addressed the next steps in the process with Perez, as Red Bull work out how they can get back in the constructors’ fight in 2025.

“Obviously those discussions will happen between Checo and the team. Now [we’ve got] the season out of the way, we’ll sit down with him and reflect on the season and obviously where it’s gone wrong and collectively work out what is the right and appropriate way forward.

“Checo has been a great server to this team, going back to this race [in Abu Dhabi] in 2021, the contribution that he made, 2022 and 2023 constructors’ championships, five race victories, second in last year’s drivers’ championship, so he’s done an awful lot for this team and we’ll sit down and reflect on this season and how we move forward.

“There’s no immediate rush,” added Horner. “We have all of the permutations available to us internally, so I think the first thing is to sit down with Checo and have that conversation now that the season’s completed.

“Sitting here now, he’s still our driver, so it would be wrong for me to speculate on what next year may look like until he and I have sat down.”

Testing with Red Bull ‘great fun’ for Tsunoda

Horner did say, however, that it was “crucial” for Red Bull to have “two drivers that are scoring on a regular collective basis in the constructors’ championship”.

“Ferrari will be strong with their line-up next year, McLaren have a strong line-up, Mercedes will have an inexperienced driver in one of their seats,” said Horner. “And so for us it’s very important that both of our drivers are delivering and there’s not a significant gap.”

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As for Tsunoda, the Japanese driver was tight-lipped on his future after testing the RB20, telling the media after the Abu Dhabi test: “[It was] very fun! I mean, it’s the first different car I’ve driven in the last four years [and] I’m feeling the reason why this car is fighting for the championship. I feel quite a difference between what I was driving [and this].

“We had such a productive day… I’m happy more than ever right now!”