Red Bull’s decision to drop Perez raises questions about the decision-making of team principal Christian Horner, who made the decision in May to sign him until the end of 2026.
The move came at the start of a slump in form from Perez – which echoed a similar decline in 2023 – and Horner said the intention was to allow him to recover his confidence.
But Perez’s performances did not improve. He took his final podium in the fifth race of the season in China and after finishing fourth at the following race in Miami, his best result was a sixth place in the Netherlands.
His one highlight for the remainder of the season was a strong performance in Azerbaijan, where he was on course for a podium finish before a late crash with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
Perez’s inability to get close to Verstappen’s performances was a significant factor in Red Bull losing the constructors’ championship.
They finished third behind McLaren and Ferrari, despite Verstappen’s nine victories. McLaren took six wins between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Ferrari five with Charles Leclerc and Sainz.
Horner re-signed Perez – giving him a two-year extension that seemed inexplicable to many in F1 – rather than taking Sainz, who is being replaced at Ferrari next season by Lewis Hamilton.
The basis for the decision was the tension that existed between the Verstappen and Sainz camps when the drivers were paired at Red Bull’s junior team in 2015 and early 2016.
But Verstappen’s father Jos Verstappen said he had never expressed a preference for Sainz not to rejoin Red Bull.
Perez took five victories for Red Bull, one in 2021, and two each in 2022 and 2023, but was able to get close to Verstappen only for the first four races of 2023.
However, he was instrumental in Verstappen winning his first world title in 2021.
His aggressive defence against Hamilton at the season finale in Abu Dhabi allowed Verstappen to close back up to the seven-time champion in the middle of the race.
That meant when the decisive late safety-car period happened, Hamilton did not have a sufficient gap to pit for fresh tyres while also retaining the race lead, which he likely would have had Perez not blocked him for so long.
That meant he was vulnerable to Verstappen, who did stop for fresh rubber.
Race director Michael Masi started the race for one final lap, having ignored the rules governing a safety car period in two different ways, and Verstappen, on fresh tyres, was able to pass Hamilton, ensuring he rather than the Mercedes driver won the championship.
