Red Bull Racing has found a new teammate for Max Verstappen.
The team announced on Wednesday that Sergio Perez would not be back until 2025. The announcement doesn’t really come as a surprise; By the end of the 2024 season, reports had emerged that Perez’s future with the team was in doubt.
Perez is replaced by Liam Lawson.
“I am incredibly grateful for the past four years with Oracle Red Bull Racing and for the opportunity to race with such a great team,” Perez said in a statement. “Driving for Red Bull has been an unforgettable experience and I will always cherish the successes we achieved together. We have broken records, achieved remarkable milestones and I have been privileged to meet so many wonderful people along the way.”
Perez’s departure comes after an extremely disappointing season. Verstappen won his fourth world championship in a row, but Red Bull finished third in the constructors’ standings behind McLaren and Ferrari, largely due to Perez’s problems.
Perez, 34, finished eighth in the standings and was 71 points behind Lewis Hamilton in seventh. He only achieved four podium finishes, all four of which came in the first five races of the season.
After finishing no lower than fourth through the first six races of 2024, Perez never finished higher than sixth for the rest of the season as Red Bull’s car dominance disappeared. Perez scored just one point in the last five Grand Prix races and the last two races of the season ended with a DNF.
In the previous three seasons, Perez won five races for Red Bull and finished second in the 2023 points standings behind Verstappen. He scored 29 podium finishes in four seasons with Red Bull after winning the first race of his career with the current Aston Martin team during the 2020 season.
Lawson was chosen for Perez’s seat over Yuki Tsunoda. The two finished the 2024 season as teammates on the junior RB team.
Lawson took part in the final six races of the season after replacing Daniel Ricciardo at the team. In 11 starts over two seasons at RB, Lawson has an average finish of 12.9. In 2024 he finished ninth twice for RB.
Tsunoda has completed 88 races for RB in four seasons. He has a career average of 13.5 and finished 12th in the standings in 2024. Tsunoda will return to RB in 2025 and will likely be paired with Red Bull reserve driver Isack Hadjar in the junior team.
