Spanish media reports Sergio Perez is close to keeping his Red Bull seat in 2025. Sergio Perez’s departure from F1 seemed inevitable after his poor performance in 2024.

Sergio Perez’s departure from Formula 1 seemed inevitable after his poor performance during the 2024 season, which is nearly over. However, according to Spanish media, the Mexican driver might have secured a spot at Red Bull for 2025 thanks to new sponsors.

Despite the contract renewal with the Austrian team, Sergio Perez’s future has been a constant source of speculation this year due to his rather disappointing performances. Initially, rumors suggested he wouldn’t survive the summer break and would be replaced by Daniel Ricciardo.

Having survived that, it was then believed he’d be allowed a final home Grand Prix in Mexico before announcing his retirement. Finally, after surpassing even that, it is now assumed that driver #11 will part ways with the Milton Keynes team at the end of the season.

Set to replace him would be either Liam Lawson or Yuki Tsunoda, with some even suggesting Franco Colapinto as a potential partner for the Dutch champion. However, according to Spain’s Marca, Sergio Perez has brought in additional sponsors for 2025 and has received Christian Horner’s approval to start working with them for next year.

This would be a strong indication that Perez has retained his seat. After all, following the Brazilian Grand Prix, Sergio Perez himself said: “You’ll see me in Las Vegas; you’ll see me next year. I’m not the one who’s worried.”

In short, Sergio Perez’s commercial appeal could be pushing Red Bull’s leadership to reconfirm the Guadalajara driver. This is despite the fact he has scored only 19 points since the summer break, caused the most damage to his car ($4.86M), and has a gap of over 200 points from his teammate.

Meanwhile, Christian Horner’s statements about Perez have been vague. The Briton initially remarked that he believes “everything in life is subjective and that we need to look at the facts,” then backtracked, saying, “there comes a time when tough decisions must be made.”

It remains to be seen whether Red Bull will make a sporting or commercial decision in choosing who will partner with Max Verstappen in the 2025 Formula 1 campaign.