Sergio Perez, a Mexican, has admitted that his Formula One future with Red Bull is uncertain ahead of this week’s negotiations with the company.
Max Verstappen’s struggling teammate has been convinced all season that he will be back next year, despite a poor run of results that cost Red Bull the constructors’ championship.
Perez acknowledged that the situation was uncertain after retiring from Sunday’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
“We will see what happens in the coming days, I don’t know what is going to happen at the moment, I have a contract and the team and I have been talking,” he said in a Red Bull post-race news release.
“It’s a case of discussing what is the best for everybody moving forwards.”
Perez suffered his second successive blank on Sunday, retiring after a first lap clash with Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas.
The Mexican ended the season on 152 points, compared to quadruple champion Verstappen’s 437, with only 49 points from the last 18 races.
Perez was also the only driver from the top four teams without a win this year. Verstappen won eight and clinched his fourth successive title in Las Vegas last month with two rounds to spare.
Team boss Christian Horner said after the Qatar Grand Prix, a weekend before Abu Dhabi, that he would let Perez “come to his own conclusions.”
“Now we have got the season out of the way we will sit down with him and reflect on the season and obviously where it has gone wrong and collectively work out what is the right and appropriate way forward,” he said on Sunday.
If the squad decides to move Perez aside, New Zealand’s Liam Lawson, who presently plays for Red Bull-owned RB, appears to be the favorite to take his place.
