Red Bull not rushing in settling their F1 driver line-ups for 2025, despite the external pressure on the driver market.
A lot of drivers and team bosses have expressed its surprise this year with regards to the driver movement for 2025 and beyond at an early stage in the month of April itself rather than going in the middle of the year around the summer break.
Already Fernando Alonso has confirmed his stay at Aston Martin for beyond the 2024 season, who becomes the second confirmation after Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari. The Spaniard was linked to Mercedes and Red Bull too, but those can now be put to rest.
The link-ups are never ending in the case of Red Bull where Sergio Perez’s seat remains in high demand. The Mexican remains one on the list with the likes of Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda also in frame considering that they drive for Visa Cash App RB.
Red Bull reserve Liam Lawson is unlikely to get the senior seat just yet but any movement in the sister team can open up a seat for him there. Outside the current stable, the big name without a seat is Carlos Sainz, who wishes to sort his future as soon as possible.
He is certainly linked with Mercedes and also Audi, who are to join F1 in 2026 but could rope him at Sauber in 2025 itself. The German manufacturer has started to put pressure on the market as Red Bull duo of Helmut Marko and Christian Horner claim.
“The driver market has exploded in April…normally no one talks in April,” said Marko to media. “It is ridiculous, but we won’t jump into this game ourselves. We will wait and see and only then make the best choice later on. I don’t know what is going on. I have heard that Audi is making pressure, but it is a little bit strange for a newcomer to make pressure on the driver market.
“On our side, we will wait at least until we have a clear picture about what is best for Red Bull Racing,” summed up Marko, as Horner echoed his sentiments but they are not rushing in as yet. “The whole driver market seems to be very early this year that everybody seems to be rushing around, and we’re ready four races into the year,” he said.
“So I think, we’re not in a huge rush. And, obviously, there’s a significant amount of interest in our cars, as you would expect, but, Checo has the priority and it is going to be a few more races yet before we start to think about next year.”
Here’s Christian Horner on Sergio Perez’s performance in Japan
Here’s Christian Horner, Helmut Marko on Yuki Tsunoda
Here’s Max Verstappen on his radio banter
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