Red Bull urged to stick with Perez

SERGIO Perez remains Red Bull’s best option as teammate for triple world champion Max Verstappen next season, according to the Mexican’s former boss Otmar Szafnauer.

Perez’s contract with Formula One’s dominant champions runs out at the end of the season and the 34-year-old faces an uncertain future. Former Force India, Aston Martin and Alpine principal Szafnauer said “Checo” would be his choice and he had said as much at a recent F1 event in Abu Dhabi.

“I said, ‘knowing Checo as well as I do, I would replace Checo with Checo.’ If I were (team boss) Christian (Horner), I would still keep him there for next year,” he said.

Perez is second in the standings after five races, with three seconds and a third, and this weekend returns to Miami, where he took pole position last year and finished as runner-up to Verstappen.

Verstappen won 19 of 22 races last year and has started 2024 with four wins from five, and Szafnauer saidK: “Max is just better.”

The American, who is currently on “gardening leave” and promoting an Eventr travel app, said Perez had never been a great qualifier but race craft was his strength.

“There are not many times that I can count where he worked for me where you think, ‘Why did you do that in a race?’” he said.

“There’s only one time I can remember, in Singapore, where he got frustrated and hit a Williams, but the rest of the time he is very, very good at overtaking without making mistakes … he’s really, really good at it.

“When he was up against (Nico) Hulkenberg, Hulkenberg would always get him over a lap,” he added. “But by the end of it, because Checo could manage his tyres, Checo would get him.”

Hulkenberg, 36, has several more seasons ahead of him after being announced as a Sauber driver for 2025 and then Audi in 2026.

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton will be 40 when he joins Ferrari from Mercedes next season, while Aston Martin’s double champion Fernando Alonso is 42.