Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko concedes the Formula 1 team will ‘have to’ consider an ‘incredible’ driver to potentially replace Sergio Perez in the car for 2025.
The Milton Keynes team face a decision over their driver line-up for next year with Perez out of contract. His terms will expire at the end of the 2024 season and several drivers are in the race for his drive. But Marko states that Red Bull will not decide Perez’s future anytime soon.
Marko wants Red Bull to wait, despite the plethora of talent available in the Formula 1 driver market right now. Ferrari will axe Carlos Sainz at the end of the year to make space for Lewis Hamilton. Additionally, Fernando Alonso is out of contract with Aston Martin after this term.
Sergio Perez is fighting for his future at Red Bull past 2024
Alpine drivers Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly plus Visa Cash App RB duo, Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo, are also out of contract after 2024. Ricciardo is also one of the racers in the running to replace Perez in a return to Red Bull in 2025, according to Edd Straw of The Race.
READ MORE: All 2024 Formula 1 driver contract lengths and wages
Straw has also reported for The Race that Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has eyes on Sainz to replace Perez. But while Horner would welcome their driver academy graduate, Marko has shown less desire to reunite Sainz and ex-Toro Rosso teammate Max Verstappen.
Helmut Marko now admits Red Bull ‘have to’ consider Carlos Sainz
But Marko, who oversees Red Bull’s driver academy, has now stated that the Milton Keynes team must consider Sainz as a potential replacement for Perez. The Ferrari exile has shown the Austrian that he is worth pairing with Verstappen again after a strong start to his season.
Marko has told Sky Germany: “He is currently in incredible form. Sainz came into Formula 1 through Red Bull and also had a very good year at Toro Rosso. Sainz is certainly a name that you have to take into account.”
READ MORE: Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz’s life outside F1 from full name, girlfriend and height
He added: “Normally, we don’t talk about driver decisions at all in April. But, somehow, the whole thing seems to have moved forward a lot. But for us it’s still too early. We’ll definitely wait a while before we make a decision.”
Unlike Perez, who was somewhat hampered with a visor tear-off becoming stuck in his floor, Sainz was there to capitalise on Verstappen retiring to win the Australian GP. The Spaniard is even also the only non-Red Bull driver to win an F1 Grand Prix since the 2022 Sao Paulo GP.
Sainz denied Red Bull a perfect season last year with his victory at the 2023 Singapore GP. It and his victory in Melbourne also place Sainz level with Perez for wins since George Russell triumphed in Brazil. Perez has only won the 2023 Saudi Arabian GP and Azerbaijan GP since.
Perez will hope his best qualifying in 2024 at the Japanese GP this week now helps him end his drought. The 34-year-old will start the race alongside Verstappen on the front row. Sainz will line up directly behind Perez in P4, with Lando Norris splitting the pair on Suzuka’s grid.
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