Sergio Perez is facing some time on the F1 sidelines (Image: Getty)
’s camp reportedly rejects ’s claim that the Mexican driver ‘came to his own conclusion’ about leaving . The six-time Grand Prix winner has been replaced by ahead of the 2025 campaign.
Perez kicked off the 2024 season in style, claiming four podiums in his first five starts, but as and reeled in ’s performance advantage, he started to struggle. There were even reports that the Milton Keynes squad were considering dropping him after the summer break, but this did not materialise.
Unfortunately for both parties, Perez’s form did not recover thereafter. In fact, he recorded just one top-nine finish in his final eight Grands Prix, leaving Horner and Helmut Marko no other decision than to make a driver line-up change for 2025.
In the press releases and interviews conducted after Perez’s departure was announced, claimed that the decision was mutual and that the 34-year-old had “come to his own decision” to leave the team and take a sabbatical.
However, according to , ‘sources close to Perez’ have disputed Horner’s comments. “It’s been a culmination of things,” the team principal told ESPN. “Checo started the season so strongly, four podiums out of five races. It felt like he’d taken off where he left off last year.
“But then really from Monte Carlo, that race onwards, it has been a very tough year for him, and we’ve tried everything with him and supporting him, and basically he has come to his own conclusion that I think that now is the right time to step away from Formula 1 to take a bit of time out.”
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Horner claims that Perez decided himself to leave Red Bull (Image: Getty)
In a conversation with talkSPORT, Horner denied that the team had sacked Perez, per se. “No, it’s a little different to that,” he said. “Sergio has been with us for four years. The first three years he played a huge role in the team and certainly in that first Driver’s World Championship.
“You’ve only got to think back to Abu Dhabi 21, the role that he played for the team on that day. Constructors champions in 22, 23. He was second in the World Championship in the Driver’s last year.
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“He 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 and work out what he wants to do.
“He’s still going to be involved with the team. He’ll 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.”