ABU DHABI: With his future at Red Bull Racing in doubt, Sergio Perez has provided an honest assessment of the challenge of being the teammate of four-time world champion Max Verstappen.

Despite signing a new contract that should keep him in the Red Bull seat until the end of 2026, rumors have swirled around the potential exit of the Mexican driver, given the dip in his performance over the past six months.

“It’s an incredible challenge. I knew what I signed up for when I came here,” Perez said in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.

“It’s an incredible challenge, and a challenge that people should not underestimate the level of experience, the level of capacity, of mental strength, that you need to cope with this extreme challenge.”

The 34-year-old joined the Milton Keynes-based outfit in 2021 and played a crucial role in helping Verstappen edge Lewis Hamilton in the season-closer in Abu Dhabi that year.

With Verstappen and Perez in tandem, Red Bull secured the constructors’ championship in 2022 and 2023, including a one-two in the drivers’ championship last season.

This year has told a different story, though, for Perez, who started 2024 by making the podium in four of the first five races and signing a contract extension in June, before struggling on the track for the rest of the season.

In his last 16 races, the Guadalajara native has had four DNFs, and has scored a mere 45 points.

With disappointing results since Monaco at the end of May, speculation has risen over possible replacements for Perez, whose new contract may include performance-related clauses.

Young candidates

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said after the Qatar Grand Prix last weekend that Perez is “old enough and wise enough to come to his own conclusions but there is still a race to go, so let’s get to the end of Abu Dhabi and see where we are at.”

Several names have been thrown around as possible replacements for Perez, including Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson, the drivers from Red Bull’s sister outfit RB — a team specifically designed to be a feeder for Red Bull.

Tsunoda, 24, has been at RB for four seasons and his current P12 in the drivers’ championship would be his highest finish since making his F1 debut in 2021. He is also scheduled to drive the Red Bull car in the post-season test in Abu Dhabi next week.

Lawson, 22, joined Red Bull’s Junior Team in 2019. The Kiwi driver subbed in for an injured Daniel Ricciardo at RB last year and was given the full seat late this season. Abu Dhabi will be just the 11th Grand Prix Lawson has raced so far in his young career.

Others have mentioned the 21-year-old Franco Colapinto, who has shown great promise since he got a Williams seat in Monza this season but is so far without a drive for 2025.

Perez believes it would be a tall order for a young driver to come in and replace him as Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate.

“I think being teammates with Max at Red Bull, for a young driver, I wouldn’t want to be in those shoes, if I’m honest,” said Perez.

“Like I said, people cannot underestimate the level of challenge that there is in this seat.”

A role with a heavy toll

Williams driver Alex Albon, who spent a season and a half as Verstappen’s teammate at Red Bull, shared some insight into his own experience alongside the Dutch driver.

“It’s a tricky one. I think first of all you have to just appreciate the talent that Max has, that’s number one,” said Albon.

“Number two is, it’s not always that comfortable to drive that car. I don’t know where it is now for Checo (Perez), I haven’t been following along too much. But he likes a car quite different; it’s not easy for a driver to adapt to it.

“And then it’s just that toll of it. You’re in the spotlight constantly and it’s a tough place to be and I think for anyone, it’s not going to be an easy place to be, to be his teammate.”

Perez has indeed struggled with the RB20, which has not suited his driving style.

“I think when you look back at it, I was in the fight in 2022, I was in the fight in 2023, I had some tough moments in ’23 obviously. But then ’24 started really well. I think we just took a wrong direction and with driving styles, it impacts more one driver than the other,” said Perez.

“The way it impacted me, it was a lot harder than, for example, Max, because of his driving style. He can cope with a very neutral balance and I couldn’t. So, that was the main deficit, really.”

Taking responsibility

Perez’s performances mean that Red Bull have won the drivers’ championship via Verstappen but are out of the running in the constructors’ championship, which will be decided in Abu Dhabi this weekend between McLaren and Ferrari.

It is the first time since 1983 that a team that produced the winning driver in the championship only managed to finish third in the constructors’ standings.

Perez has acknowledged the role he played in such an anomaly but deflected the full blame.

“Of course, I take responsibility but also I don’t feel it’s fully all down to one person. I’m obviously part of a big organization, a big team, and it’s very unfortunate that we did not fight any harder for the constructors’,” said the Mexican driver.

Amid all the speculation about his future, Perez is choosing to believe he will be continuing with the team.

“For sure I’ve seen the rumors, but nothing different to the last couple of months. So, in that regard, nothing further to add,” he said.

“I already said it in the last six months that I’m here. I renewed with the team earlier in the year and I’m here to be the driver for the team next year and that’s where my full focus is.

“I think it’s important to stay together because as I said, the season hasn’t been the greatest, but at the end of the day, there’s a reason why they renewed me. They know I can still do it and that’s an important factor.”

‘We have a tremendous talent pool’

Horner spoke to reporters in Abu Dhabi on Friday and has not given a definitive answer regarding Perez’s fate.

The Red Bull boss paid tribute to Perez and the role he played in the team’s success over the past four years but has made no promises about his future.

“This season hasn’t gone to anyone’s plan, particularly with Checo’s performance and since Monaco, it’s been very, very tough for him. And, so, inevitably, once we get this race out of the way, we’ll sit down and discuss the future,” he said.

Asked if he regrets opting to sign an early contract extension with Perez in June, Horner said: “Obviously, at the time, Sergio was performing really well. I think he had four podiums in the first five races. In order to settle his mind and extend that run of form for the rest of the season, we elected to go early, which obviously didn’t work.

“We’re fortunate that we’ve got a tremendous pool of talent. It was good to see Isack Hadjar getting a run out as well in free practice today. We’ve got two talented drivers in VCARB. But until the situation is clear with Sergio and what he wants to do, everything else is purely speculation.”

Joining the elite

With decisions yet to be made, one thing is clear: Whoever ends up being Verstappen’s teammate in 2025 will face a daunting task.

“I think probably being Max’s teammate is the toughest drive in Formula 1 because he’s set such a high standard, such a high bar, and his performances are just relentless,” said Horner.

“So, anybody sat in the car alongside him is going to have tremendous strength of character and have the ability to work within a team, and be able to focus on themselves; to a degree almost ignoring what’s going on in the other car.

“Because I think that’s where, mentally, it becomes incredibly tough. As we’ve seen with many of the greats, I’m sure when you work with Michael Schumacher or Ayrton Senna previously, teammates had a similarly hard job. Max now joins that elite group of people. It’s as simple as that.”