F1 driver transfer news: Perez offered Red Bull lifeline by Horner amid STRONG Sainz links

Sainz and Pérez during press conference for Bahrain testing — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News & Gossip

Perez offered Red Bull lifeline by Horner amid STRONG Sainz links

Perez and Sainz are leading candidates to race alongside Max Verstappen at Red Bull next season

Originally written by Sam Cook. This version is a translation.

Tuesday 23 April 2024 16:00

Christian Horner has stated that Carlos Sainz is targeting a Red Bull seat alongside Max Verstappen for 2025.

Spaniard Sainz will be replaced at Ferrari by Lewis Hamilton ahead of the 2025 season, with the seven-time world champion teaming up with the most successful team on the Formula 1 grid in a last-ditch attempt to win an unprecedented eighth title.

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This means that Sainz, who is the only non-Red Bull driver to have won a race since the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix, does not currently have a spot in the sport for beyond the end of this season.

There have been a plethora of rumours linking Sainz with various teams including Mercedes, Aston Martin, Sauber and, indeed, Red Bull.

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Helmut Marko recently suggested that Sainz's form had turned the heads of the team, but that the Spaniard had received a big offer from Audi which the Milton Keynes-based squad could not match.

Now, Horner has suggested that Red Bull are not in any hurry to make a decision, particularly given the strong early season form of Perez.

“First of all, we’re not aware of the offer that has been made, but obviously Audi coming into the sport, one would assume that they’re going to be quite aggressive in the driver market," Horner told Sky Sports at the Chinese GP.

“But as you can tell, with the level of interest we’ve had from other drivers in our seats that for a driver of Carlos' calibre, he wants to be in a winning car and whilst we have one seat available for next year, his target inevitably is that seat.

“But his problem is that Checo is in that seat and he’s doing a very good job so for us as a team it’s a luxury situation but one that we don’t need to rush and we’ll take our time to consider the options.”

Pressed on his driver lineup for 2025, Horner said: “If Checo retains the consistency we’ve seen in the first four races, then there would be no need to change our line-up but we’re only at race five and, obviously, it’s only a very early point in the year but, you know, Checo’s doing a great job, we’re very pleased with what he’s doing but it’s important he maintains that vain of form.”

Red Bull Max Verstappen Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Mercedes Charles Leclerc