Liberty Media reportedly intervened to encourage Red Bull to keep Sergio Perez on board
On Monday, Christian Horner called a meeting of the entire Red Bull team to announce that the Mexican would remain Max Verstappen's team-mate until the end of the season. It's quite a turnaround, since Red Bull's management had initially decided to part company with the Mexican after the Belgian Grand Prix.
Red Bull will not change its duo of drivers this year. That’s what Christian Horner declared during an internal meeting this Monday at the Milton Keynes factory, reaffirming his confidence in Mexican driver Sergio Pérez. This decision shocked the media and fans, as the Austrian team is known for being very strict towards drivers who have poor results. However, before this meeting, the situation seemed different, as Red Bull had initially planned to fire the Mexican driver who had not met the set goals before the break.
According to F1-Insider, Christian Horner and executive advisor Helmut Marko had made the decision to part ways with the Mexican just before the Spa race, despite his good qualification in a promising second position.
« Pérez is leaving, Max will have a new teammate for the next race after the summer break, during the home race in Zandvoort, they had declared, crushing Perez’s last hopes of staying at Red Bull, even though he had signed a two-year contract extension at the Canadian Grand Prix. According to the same media, Verstappen’s team had been informed of this decision, as Perez was not meeting the team’s expectations. However, a day later, senior officials from the Austrian team made a contrary decision: Perez will indeed be a Red Bull driver after the summer break.
An Unexpected Turn of Events
This turn of events surprised some observers, such as the Verstappen camp, who expected to see Max Verstappen welcome a new teammate. Another Dutch driver, Giedo Van der Garde, also commented on this selection.
« I find that incredible. It’s not like Red Bull. Normally, they never give a chance this long to someone who isn’t performing well. I still don’t understand why Horner is holding out his hand for so long. Apparently, Horner has more to say than Marko ».
Liberty Media’s intervention
One element seems to have tipped the balance in favor of the six-time Grand Prix winner: the intervention of Liberty Media and its president Stefano Domenicali, who reportedly asked Red Bull to “reconsider the dismissal” of Sergio Perez for economic reasons. The owner of Formula 1 feared that the Mexican driver’s dismissal would significantly reduce the revenue of the Mexican Grand Prix, as spectators are always very keen to support their national driver. While the Mexican Grand Prix takes place at the end of October, in about three months, there are indeed still seats available.
This intervention was poorly received by the Austrian Helmut Marko, who wanted to get rid of Sergio Pérez in order to give a chance to the members of the Red Bull academy, especially the New Zealander Liam Lawson, who had obtained from Marko the guarantee of a seat in 2025. Lawson actually tested the 2022 Racing Bulls yesterday, thus nurturing hope for him, especially since the head of the young driver program declared: « The cards will be shuffled again for 2025.”
