Sergio Perez news LIVE: F1 latest as Red Bull axe Mexican driver and line up replacement

That’s a wrap. After a record-breaking 24 races, the 2024 F1 season concluded on Sunday in Abu Dhabi with Lando Norris guiding McLaren to constructors’ glory.

What a topsy-turvy, constantly evolving season it has been. From Red Bull’s dominance on the track and turmoil in the paddock at the start of the season to multiple winners and riveting racing, there has been drama at every turn.

For the first time since 2021, too, we had a genuine title race, and while Max Verstappen ultimately claimed his fourth successive world championship, Norris pushed him to the final three races.

On the decision to extend Perez’s contract over the summer, Horner said: “At the time he’d had four podiums in five races, it was a logical extension to remove speculation, of which there was already too much around the team,” explained the team principal.

“Every contract has performance clauses and criteria, it didn’t make any difference to this decision for Sergio to step away and take a sabbatical.”

On the constructor’s championship, he added: “In hindsight, McLaren did a great job. But at the end of the day, we won more races, we had more poles, we won four sprint races, more than any other team, and we won the drivers’ championship with two races to go.

“Unfortunately we had a 280-point deficit between our drivers, of course that became quite expensive in terms of the constructors’ championship.”

Horner spoke to Sky Sports regarding Perez’s future, saying: “Checo has been a fantastic member of this team, it’s been a tough year for him, but he’s a great person and played a key role in 2021 drivers’ championship.

“We sat down and discussed it last week. He’s decided to take a bit of time out, take a sabbatical from Formula 1 essentially. He’ll still be involved with the brand and the team. But he’s stepping back from driving duties moving forward.

“We’re sad to see him leave the team. It’s time for him to spend time with his family and reflect on what he wants to do for the future.”

Christian Horner has revealed what Sergio Perez’s next move will be after Red Bull confirmed his exit following a disastrous 2024 F1 season.

The Mexican endured a torrid run of results this year as he finished eighth in the drivers’ standings – a mammoth 285 points behind teammate and champion Max Verstappen.

The 34-year-old’s sub-par performances ultimately cost Red Bull the constructors’ title as McLaren pipped Ferrari to the crown in the final race of the season, thanks to Lando Norris’s win in Abu Dhabi.

And Red Bull boss Horner has now explained what Perez will do ahead of the 2025 campaign, with no other seat lined up.

The beginning of the end for Sergio Perez at Red Bull was further back than you think, after the Mexican finally confirmed a predictable outcome on Wednesday following a disastrous season. For it was not the embarrassing Q1 exit in Hungary in July, after a crash in practice the day before. Nor was it the expensive first-lap crash on the streets of Monacoin the spring. Instead, it was May 2023, and a time when events were altogether rosier for the now dispirited Mexican.

Heading into last year’s Miami Grand Prix, Perez was being tilted as a genuine title contender. Or rather, given Red Bull’s car dominance, Max Verstappen’s only title contender. Both drivers had split wins in the first four races and on his favoured street track configuration, Perez took pole in Florida. Verstappen started in ninth.

Read Kieran Jackson’s full analysis:

Liam Lawson set to be promoted from RB to become Max Verstappen’s teammate.

Lawson, who replaced Daniel Ricciardo at RB in September, has impressed since filling in for the Australian and The Independent understands Lawson will be the man to take Perez’s seat with the main Red Bull team in 2025 ahead of Yuki Tsunoda.

Sergio Perez has been dropped by Red Bull for the 2025 F1 season – with Liam Lawson set to be promoted from RB to become Max Verstappen’s teammate.

The world champions, who extended Perez’s deal to the end of the 2025 season at the beginning of June, have made the change following a torrid run of results for the Mexican this year.

The 34-year-old, who has raced in F1 for 14 consecutive seasons, finished eighth in the drivers’ standings – a mammoth 285 points behind teammate and champion Verstappen.

After the finale of the 2024 season in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, it is now only 94 days until we do it all again in 2025.

Next year has the potential to be an all-time great Formula 1 season. Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari is the main attraction, but there are also at least four new drivers on the grid next year – rookies Ollie Bearman, Kimi Antonelli, Jack Doohan and Gabriel Bortoleto.

Yet after Max Verstappen won the drivers’ title and McLaren claimed the constructors’ crown, both championships look wide open for next year.

Ollie Bearman

A debut of dreams for the British teenager in Saudi Arabia, filling in seamlessly for Carlos Sainz to score points on his F1 debut for Ferrari.

From that moment on, his 2025 seat at Haas was virtually secured. He took his chance. It did not matter that he finished a lowly 12th in the F2 standings.

Podium places: Gabriel Bortoleto; Franco Colapinto

Brazilian Grand Prix

A championship-deciding, drama-inducing weekend in Sao Paulo.

Heavy rain meant we had qualifying on Sunday morning and, such is the grid that formed, it looked set to result in a massive points swing in Norris’s favour. There were also five crashes in helter-skelter qualifying minutes.

But the race proved to be a masterclass in wet-weather driving from Verstappen. While others slipped and slid across the racetrack and into the walls, the Dutchman was the epitome of perfection.

Podium places: British Grand Prix; Austrian Grand Prix