These moments that cost Sergio Perez his steering wheel for 2025

The rumor was only growing, it ended up being confirmed. This Wednesday evening after long weeks of noise, Red Bull and Sergio Perez have found common ground to end their collaboration.

Checo's fate had become inevitable as the season went on. The Mexican defended himself for months, pointing out that he had a contract until 2026, but he eventually understood that this argument no longer had any value given his performances in 2024. Thus, it was agreed that he would leave with immediate effect after four seasons, 90 Grands Prix, 5 victories and 29 podiums in the colours of the Austrian team.

Convincing start to the season but sudden drop in performance

However, the Guadalajara native's campaign started on the right foot. Taking advantage of the RB20's dominance over the rest of the field, he appeared to be a good soldier for Max Verstappen, with three 2nd places and a 3rd in the first five Grands Prix. But with time and the developments of the other teams, Sergio Pérez suddenly began to lose his footing to the point of never finding the Top 3 again after China (5th round of the season). His 4th place in Miami two weeks later will also be his best result for the rest of the year, i.e. 19 Grands Prix!

In addition to his total absence on Sundays, which forced Red Bull to fight only with Max Verstappen against the three other teams at the top of the table, Checo appeared psychologically weakened to the point of fighting to hope to be in Q3, or even in Q2. He will also end the year with 6 eliminations from Q1.

Accidents and outings

His 2024 season was also marked by the many incidents in which he was involved. How can we not think of the one in Monaco? He is certainly not at fault but the outcome changes nothing. The Mexican, carried away by a Kevin Magnussen a bit too optimistic, pulverized his RB20, the repair costs of which were estimated at between 2 and 3 million euros at the time.

THE REPLAY OF THE HUGE CRASH AT THE START! 😳😳

Still red flag in Monaco, Sergio Perez, Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen are doing well ✅#MonacoGP #F1 ???????? pic.twitter.com/HiKnvB2ahT

— CANAL+ F1® (@CanalplusF1) May 26, 2024

Fifteen days later in Canada, he ended his Sunday in the protective barriers due to a pilot error just days after having obtained a contract extension. The Austrian general staff would eventually admit to having rushed.

« At the time, Sergio was extremely successful, confided Christian Horner at the end of the season. In order to reassure him and allow him to continue his momentum until the end of the season, we decided to intervene earlier, which obviously did not work. That's life. »

Not forgetting other accidents like the one during the first free practice in Hungary or the one on the penultimate lap in Baku which deprived him of a return to the podium.

THE CRASH BETWEEN SAINZ AND PÉREZ WITH ONE LAP TO GO 🤯

Both drivers are fine 👍#AzerbaijanGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/ZN4khG7OUf

— CANAL+ F1® (@CanalplusF1) September 15, 2024

Troubled end of season and war with Lawson

In the final sprint, the replacement of Daniel Ricciardo by Liam Lawson did not help Sergio Perez's situation. The message from the Austrian giant was clear while Checo was not going through his best period: test the New Zealander to promote him alongside Max Verstappen in case of good performances. 

The Kiwi took his chance to the full and didn't give any presents. Not even to Sergio Perez when these two were brought to cross on the track in Mexico for example. If he showed no opposition when it was time to let Max Verstappen pass, Lawson stuck out his elbows in front of the local. This gave rise to a tough duel, even going as far as contact between the two. 

Later in the race, Lawson, on fresher tyres, was lucky enough to overtake him, not failing to give him a nice middle finger on the straight. An attitude that did not go down well with Red Bull management but which clearly had no impact on his candidacy to move up to the parent team in 2025.

© Eric Alonso /DPPI

From then on, Sergio Perez was totally disoriented, and the situation was irrevocable. The last triplet started in Las Vegas at the end of November did not improve his situation. A retirement in Qatar behind the Safety Car and a final one in Abu Dhabi on the first lap after a collision with Valtteri Bottas finally got the better of the Mexican. 

The discussions promised after Abu Dhabi by Christian Horner then led to the fatal outcome that the person concerned feared so much: his ouster and his replacement by... Liam Lawson.

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