Is Sergio Perez doing enough to keep his Red Bull F1 seat for 2025?

Martin Brundle and Karun Chandhok have backed Sergio Perez to retain his Red Bull F1 seat for the 2025 season.

Perez, who is out of contract at the end of the year, came into the new campaign under pressure to keep hold of his drive after a largely disappointing 2023 season, despite ultimately finishing runner up to Max Verstappen in the drivers’ championship.

The Mexican has enjoyed a strong start to the season and Daniel Ricciardo’s struggles at sister team RB have seemingly eased the scrutiny surrounding him, with Christian Horner stating the Red Bull seat is “Perez’s to lose”.

Perez has finished second to Verstappen three times this season, as well as a fifth place in Australia. Last time out in Japan he had arguably his strongest weekend of the campaign as he narrowly missed out on pole position.

Asked whether Perez is doing enough to keep hold of his seat, Brundle said on the Sky Sports F1 podcast: “To an extent. He didn’t win Australia when Max’s car failed, which is what Red Bull would want him to do. He’s clearly more comfortable with this car and himself and driving nicely.

“It seems to be calming down a lot but the concept of Max having some sort of key man, or management clause in his contract where he can exit, should he want to, that would create a whole new conversation! But let’s assume that’s not going to happen at the moment.

“I think commercially it’s very useful for Red Bull to have Sergio Perez in the car. He’s very experienced, he doesn’t throw it in the wall a lot. He doesn’t really trouble Max. He’s fast enough to keep Max on his toes but not to really trouble him. He’s the perfect driver in that seat at the moment.

“There’s a reason why Sergio’s been in that car for so long, and that’s because he suits Red Bull and what they need at the moment. And I don’t think that’s particularly changed, unless they think there’s somebody else they must take the opportunity.”

Brundle added: “Right now, moving into this great unknown with this 2026 car, certainty and experience and feedback will be pivotal and I think a team like Red Bull might just think ‘this is working, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’.”

Fellow guest and F1 pundit Chandhok agreed with Brundle, suggesting that Red Bull may not wish to “upset the applecart” by bringing in another driver alongside Verstappen.

“The reality is, Perez seems to have raised his game. His qualifying in Japan was the best we’ve seen him in a very, very long time,” Chandhok said.

“Obviously Melbourne was the one where he needed to step up when Max had an issue and he didn’t, so that’s a negative. But broadly, he’s started the season quite well.

“Now he did the same last year, so we’ll have to see if he can carry on for the rest of the year. But at the moment, he’s making a pretty good case not to be replaced.

“There was a bit of needle between him and Max but that all seems to have calmed down amongst the rest of the Red Bull chaos and I think Max and Jos, shall we call them Team Max, quite like having Perez there.

“I imagine if Red Bull said ‘we’re thinking of bringing Carlos Sainz in here because we think he could be a bit more competitive’, I’m not convinced that would go down as well as Perez, who he [Max] has got quite well covered.”