Home race in Mexico

End of career? Perez: “Back here next year!”

Sergio Perez has no intention of ending his career in Formula 1.(Bild: AFP/APA/Alfredo ESTRELLA)

Will Sergio Perez still be driving for Red Bull in 2025 or not? This question is on the minds of many in the Formula 1 camp ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix this weekend. If the 34-year-old Mexican has his way, his situation will not change.

"I want to make it clear that I will be here 100 percent next year," emphasized Perez. He felt compelled to make the new statement after speculation that Pérez would announce the end of his career at his home race.

He had previously posted a mini excerpt from the Hollywood film "Wolf of Wall Street" on social media, in which Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio fervently tells his staff: "I'm not fucking leaving." Pérez also wrote "Sorry" to his critics, accompanied by plenty of laughs.

Tsunoda and Lawson are already lurking
Pérez's problem, however, is that he is not the boss and even less the main actor at Red Bull, where he still has a contract valid until the end of 2026. He is eighth in the championship standings, with 150 points. Max Verstappen at the top scored 354 points. Last year, Verstappen collected 575 points. Pérez, who finished second in the world championship, scored 285. Red Bull won the constructors' championship in 2023 with Verstappen's points alone; this year, the team title series is in danger of coming to an end as the current runner-up behind McLaren and only just ahead of Austin triumphant Ferrari.

Perez's last Grand Prix victory was almost a year and a half ago, and he failed to finish on the podium 13 times in a row. This record speaks for a change. In Red Bull's B team, 24-year-old Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda is waiting in the wings, while New Zealander Liam Lawson, another two years younger, also has high hopes.