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Red Bull boss Christian Horner has contradicted Sergio Perez's claim that a decision on his contract is imminent.
The Mexican has had a brilliant start to the season and has scored three podium finishes in four races this year. Those results have seen him move to second in the championship standings.
However, Perez's form and consistency have been a concern for Red Bull over the past few years. He has often had a strong run of 4-5 races with excellent performances before going off the boil for a few weekends, an issue that plagued him in 2022 and 2023.
In 2022, this was one of the reasons he ended up losing P2 in the championship to Charles Leclerc and last year, inconsistency led to him barely beating Lewis Hamilton to P2.
Talking to the media on the back of his impressive start to the season, Sergio Perez claimed that the news of his extension is only a few weeks away. He said ahead of this weekend's Chinese GP (via ESPN):
"The priority is to remain here for the future. That's something that I think is just a matter of time."
Christian Horner, however, has contradicted his driver's claims and indicated that the team will take some time before making its decision. In the team principal press conference on Friday, he said when asked how close Red Bull is to confirming it's driver line-up for next season (via the same source):
"Not very, I am afraid. It is incredible that we are at race five and there's so much talk already about drivers for next year. We're in a situation where we're very happy with our two drivers, but don't need to make a decision until much later in the year. Max [Verstappen] is on a long-term contract, and Checo is out of contract, but driving exceptionally well so far this season."
Sergio Perez would like to make an announcement tomorrow: Red Bull's Christian Horner
Christian Horner also directly addressed Sergio Perez's claims that an announcement might be imminent about his future. He said that no decision would be made until later in the season.
Horner commended Perez for his performances over the last few races but felt that he wanted to see a larger sample before making a decision. He said:
"Sergio of course would like to make an announcement tomorrow undoubtedly, but we as a team aren't in a particular rush. We're in a fortunate position where many drivers would obviously like to drive for the team, but we're happy with the pairing that we have."
Horner added:
"We just want to make sure that the level of consistency that Checo started the season is maintained and in due course, we will evaluate those options. But as I say, at this point in time, we're very happy with the line-up that we have, so there is no imminent rush to announce the full driver line-up for 2025."
Sergio Perez put together another decent qualifying result in China, finishing in P6, just behind Max Verstappen in P4.
