Red Bull set to take a call on Sergio Perez's future as Max Verstappen's teammate: Reports

Red Bull could reportedly soon decide Sergio Perez's future with them. The Mexican driver is on the cusp of extending his contract with the Austrian team.

Checo has been racing for the Milton Keynes outfit for more than three years now. He was a massive help to the team in 2021 when his teammate Max Verstappen was in an intense title battle with Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton. Though he was not on par with Verstappen in the 2022 and 2023 seasons, he managed to score decent points and finish third in 2022 and second in the 2024 drivers' championships.

In the first eight races of the 2024 F1 season, Perez has drastically dropped in the standings. He is currently fifth with only 107 points while Verstappen leads the table with 169 points. He only managed to bag four podium finishes out of seven races and did not win a single Grand Prix this year.

He had a poor race weekend at the Monaco GP, where he qualified P16 and retired from the race due to a massive crash on Lap 1. Helmut Marko told Sky Germany that the estimated cost of Perez's crash was around €2,500,000 to €3,000,000.

Since Red Bull is famous for demanding consistent performance from its drivers, Perez's future with the team has been frequently questioned in many reports, especially when he underperformed. The Mexican's current contract runs out at the end of 2024.

Despite his subpar performance compared to his teammate in 2024, Motorsport.com reports that Red Bull could soon extend Sergio Perez's contract. The report further added that the reigning world champions are neither planning to promote RB driver Yuki Tsunoda, nor are they chasing Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz.

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Red Bull senior shares when the team could be ready to decide on Sergio Perez's contract

Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko recently talked about when the team could be ready to decide which driver they would want alongside Max Verstappen in the future. He also touched on where Sergio Perez stands in Red Bull's driver shopping list.

In an interview with Motorsport.com's Dutch wing, Marko stated that the team might decide on their second driver by the time the F1 circus arrives in Barcelona. When asked about how strong Checo's position was in the team, Marko said that though the Mexican driver was in a good position, he was not in pole position to get the seat.

"I think we have a clear picture of Barcelona. I think we at least have a good picture ourselves. I wouldn't say pole position, but he [Perez] is in a good position," Marko said.

As of now, neither Red Bull nor Sergio Perez have announced anything about a contract extension or their parting ways with each other.