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Graham Read
Formula 1 Correspondent
9:38 PM 18th December 2024
sports

Red Bull And Pérez Split With Immediate Effect

Sergio Pérez has removed his Red Bull helmet for the last time
Sergio Pérez has removed his Red Bull helmet for the last time
It’s taken a lot longer than Red Bull had initially forecast, but, after much behind-the-scenes negotiating, the team has now officially announced that it is parting company with its underperforming driver, Sergio Pérez, with immediate effect, even though the Mexican is contracted to still race for them throughout 2025 and 2026. This decision comes as no surprise as during the season just ended he scored a mere 152 points, compared to the 437 racked up by his title-winning teammate Max Verstappen in the same car, and his inadequate contributions essentially dropped the outfit down to third place in the Constructors’ Championship behind McLaren and Ferrari. His insufficient contributions effectively pushed the team to third place in the Constructors' Championship, trailing behind McLaren and Ferrari. On top of this, Pérez hasn’t won a Grand Prix since way back in April 2023 in Azerbaijan, whereas during the same period Verstappen has won 26, making the evidence in support of dropping Pérez overwhelmingly obvious.

Red Bull has not yet revealed who will take Pérez's vacated seat next year, but the clear favourite is 22-year-old Liam Lawson from New Zealand, who has recently been driving for the RB sister team. In turn, it is anticipated that Lawson’s RB car will be driven next season by Red Bull’s French-Algerian reserve driver and 2024 F2 runner-up, Isack Hadjar, alongside Yuki Tsunoda.

The likeable Lawson is understandably thrilled about the prospect of perhaps being selected as Pérez’s replacement at Red Bull but well knows that being a teammate to someone as blindingly fast as Verstappen really is a poisoned chalice with only one probable outcome. The young Kiwi has already publicly accepted that, if given a chance, he simply won’t be able to get close to Verstappen’s pace but is nevertheless hoping he might be able to learn as much as possible from the four-time champion and score far more points for Red Bull than Pérez has.

Liam Lawson is excited about the possibility of stepping up to the main Red Bull team
Liam Lawson is excited about the possibility of stepping up to the main Red Bull team
In other news:

The final on-track running of F1 cars in 2024 took place in Abu Dhabi last week, the primary aim being to provide the official tire supplier, Pirelli, with data about the new compounds it will be introducing next year. It also gave various drivers an early opportunity to start to bed in with their new teams.

The timings set had to be taken with a little pinch of salt, as data was not revealed about which of the six new compounds were being run by whom and when, with related fuel loads also not announced. Still, for the record, it was Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who set the fastest time of the day after completing a mighty 134 laps, bearing in mind the recent Grand Prix, which covered only 58 laps. His former teammate, Carlos Sainz, who has been dropped to make way for the incoming Sir Lewis Hamilton, went even further on his Williams debut, completing 146 laps and achieving the second-quickest time. Hamilton was absent from the test, undertaking farewell promotional duties with key Mercedes sponsors elsewhere in the world, whereas in Abu Dhabi, George Russell posted the third-best time ahead of Nico Hülkenberg, who was enjoying his first day with Sauber.

Mercedes hopes that teenage Kimi Antonelli will be a future star
Mercedes hopes that teenage Kimi Antonelli will be a future star
Hamilton's replacement at Mercedes next season is the 18-year-old Italian, Kimi Antonelli, but illness meant the Formula 1 rookie missed his final F2 racing weekend in Abu Dhabi and also the morning of the test running. However, he still set the fifth fastest time in the afternoon. Antonelli had also been due to fly to Japan last week to take part in Super Formula’s test at the iconic Suzuka circuit, helping him gain experience with the track, which will host the third Grand Prix on the 2025 Formula 1 calendar, but this trip was also cancelled due to his illness.

At least, as all the teams packed up and headed homewards for the final time this year, Pirelli returned back to Italy with plenty of useful information about how their new compounds had performed.

Max Verstappen undertook his FIA public service punishment in Rwanda last week
Max Verstappen undertook his FIA public service punishment in Rwanda last week
On a different front:

The sport’s FIA governing body revealed that Verstappen would undertake some work with local junior motorsport competitors while in Kigali, Rwanda, attending the official end-of-season prize-giving ceremony held there last Friday. Rwanda may sound like an unusual choice for this prestigious annual event, but the country has serious ambitions about holding its own Grand Prix in the future, and F1 is keen to hold a race on the African continent.

Back in September, during the Singapore Grand Prix weekend, Verstappen had used a single swear word during an official press conference, which earned him a public service order punishment from the FIA, duly completed in Rwanda. In a separate, subsequent incident at the Mexico City Grand Prix round, Ferrari’s Leclerc was also fined heavily for uttering a similar single swear word during a press conference. However, many examples of swearing by other drivers have occurred since, including by Hamilton during the Abu Dhabi finale, but they have been allowed to go unpunished, at least for now, when such incidents really need to be treated equally. While not condoning swearing, a little use of colourful language should surely be allowed in the fast-paced, dangerous, but highly exciting world of Formula 1 motor racing, just as in other areas of human activity, both sporting and otherwise.