Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez has signed a two-year contract extension with Red Bull, which will see the Mexican continue with the Austrian team and partner Max Verstappen till the end of the 2024 season.
The announcement comes fresh off Pérez’s win at the Monaco Grand Prix, where he became the first-ever Mexican to win the race in the Principality. It is reported that the Mexican put the pen to paper ahead of the Monaco race.
Pérez, who had joined Red Bull at the end of the 2020 season, replacing Alex Albon. He took a win in Azerbaijan and four podiums with the Austrian team in his debut season before scoring one more victory this season.
Pérez’s strong start to the 2022 season sees him in right in the middle of the title-fight with his teammate Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. With his future secured, he will now hope to continue on from his strong showing in Monaco in an attempt not only to take what would be a stunning Drivers’ title but also work with Verstappen towards a first Constructors’ title for their team since 2013.
Speaking about retaining Pérez for another two years, Red Bull Racing’s Team Principal and CEO, Christian Horner, said:
“Since joining Oracle Red Bull Racing, Checo has done a fantastic job. Time and again he has proved himself to not only be a magnificent team player but as his level of comfort has grown he has become a real force to be reckoned with at the sharp end of the grid. This year he has taken another step and the gap to World Champion Max has closed significantly, evidenced by his superb pole position in Jeddah earlier this year and by his wonderful win in Monaco just last weekend. For us, holding onto his pace, race craft and experience was a no-brainer and we are delighted that Checo will continue to race for the team until 2024. In partnership with Max we believe we have a driver pairing that can bring us the biggest prizes in F1.“
Sergio Pérez added:
“For me, this has been an incredible week, winning the Monaco Grand Prix is a dream for any driver and then to follow that with announcing I will continue with the Team until 2024 just makes me extremely happy. I am so proud to be a member of this Team and I feel completely at home here now. We are working very well together and my relationship with Max, on and off the track, is definitely helping drive us forward even more. We have built tremendous momentum as a Team and this season is showing that, I am excited to see where that can take us all in the future.“
The Mexican started his career with Sauber in 2011 and was one of the key members of Force India between 2014 and 2018, where he regularly outperformed the machinery and made the team a force to be reckoned with. He took his first-ever career victory in 2020 with Racing Point at the Sakhir Grand Prix.
With Pérez and Verstappen locked in till 2024 and 2028 respectively, it means that the sister team of AlphaTauri also have an interesting future ahead of them. Pierre Gasly, who was with the Red Bull team before being demoted to the AlphaTauri team, has been one of the most consistent drivers on the grid ever since his move back to the Faenza-based team.
Gasly on multiple occassions has been vocal about wanting to rejoin Red Bull and regularly fight for wins. With a Red Bull seat ruled out, he might be moving outside the Red Bull programme, which might shake up the entire grid.
Like Gasly, other junior AlphaTauri drivers have also been regularly promoted to the senior team, but with Verstappen and Pérez locked in, the fight for the AlphaTauri seats will get intense given how strong and talented Red Bull’s junior academy is.
With Pérez and Verstappen continuing their partnership till 2024, this is Red Bull’s longest driver pairing stint since Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen, who were together from mid-2016 to the end of 2018.
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