Christian Horner has insisted Sergio Perez is “sufficiently old and clever sufficient to know what the state of affairs is” as Pink Bull appears set to finish the partnership after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The Mexican will end solely eighth within the drivers’ standings regardless of team-mate Max Verstappen successful his fourth title, with Perez’s shortcomings largely responsible for the crew’s incapacity to maintain McLaren and Ferrari at bay.
It’s understood that Pink Bull’s shareholders will meet on the Monday after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to agency up the crew’s driver plans for 2025.
And whereas the crew is publicly saying little about Perez’s future, it’s understood that the plan is for it to switch the Mexican subsequent yr with one of many present RB duo.
What nonetheless must be sorted out although is the phrases of their partnership ending, with him having initially signed a contract – albeit with break clauses – into subsequent yr.
By way of potential replacements, Liam Lawson stays favorite to be given the nod, however Yuki Tsunoda may but get himself within the body if he impresses in a Pink Bull check he has in Abu Dhabi on the Tuesday after the season finale.
Talking to ViaPlay on Sunday, Pink Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko mentioned issues will turn out to be clear subsequent week.
“There’s a assembly Monday after Abu Dhabi,” he mentioned. “All the most important persons are there, the entire shareholders, and there a choice will probably be achieved.
“We all the time – or more often than not – introduced our personal drivers by means of the Pink Bull programme and I believe it is a philosophical choice: can we follow that? And what I bought from the shareholders is it will likely be on this path.”
After a lot of underwhelming qualifying outcomes, the Qatar Grand Prix weekend once more proved difficult for Perez, failing to succeed in SQ2 on Friday earlier than blowing his pitlane begin when failing to acknowledge the inexperienced mild within the dash race.
Having run within the factors within the grand prix, Perez spun behind the protection automobile earlier than his automobile floor to a halt, ending his day prematurely.
On the problem that noticed his race end, Horner defined: “We’re simply investigating the precise failure however it appears like, clearly he is spun the automobile and as he dropped the clutch, the clutch had an excessive amount of temperature undergo it. So sure, a type of issues. However extra to come back after we have stripped the automobile.”
Pointing to his errors throughout the weekend, Horner added: “We despatched him to the tip of the pit lane seven minutes forward of Colapinto for a purpose.
“However look, Checo’s contributed an enormous quantity to this crew within the 4 years that he is been right here. The world championship that Max achieved in ’21, the constructors’ world championships in ’22 and ’23 and clearly this yr has been notably onerous.
Sergio Perez, Pink Bull Racing RB20
Picture by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Pictures
“He is gained 5 Grand Prix’ for us and he is had some excellent performances in races like Singapore, Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia, to call just a few. So all people holds Checo within the highest of regard and respect.
“However clearly, the state of affairs that we’re in is as painful for him as it’s for the crew.”
With it trying more and more possible that Pink Bull will break its partnership with Perez on the finish of the season following this weekend’s finale at Yas Marina, Horner added: “Checo has had a really powerful yr and clearly the factors, the tables are what they’re.
“We’re very a lot targeted on actually supporting him to the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi. It is not an satisfying state of affairs for Checo being on this place with hypothesis each week. He is sufficiently old and clever sufficient to know what the state of affairs is and let’s examine the place we’re after Abu Dhabi.”
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