Helmut Marko has stated an announcement regarding Red Bull’s driver line-ups will be made soon, as speculation regarding Sergio Perez continues.

Uncertainty regarding Red Bull’s driver line-ups for F1 2025 has swirled in recent weeks, with confirmation coming in Abu Dhabi that Sergio Perez and Red Bull are in discussions regarding the nature of the Mexican driver’s future with the squad.

Helmut Marko confirms Sergio Perez news is imminent

As reported by PlanetF1.com after the Qatar Grand Prix weekend, Perez’s future with Red Bull as a racing driver is uncertain.

The Mexican driver’s form in F1 2024 played a major part in the team’s inability to defend its Constructors’ Championship crown, with Red Bull beaten by McLaren and Ferrari in the closing stages of the season.

While Perez has a contract to the end of F1 2026, a deal that was signed during the summer as Red Bull sought to offer Perez stability, the team has made the decision to weigh up its driver options for F1 2025 – a season in which its expected as many as four teams could be in contention for the championship.

To that end, speculation turned fact in Abu Dhabi as Perez confirmed discussions with Red Bull would be held in the days following the Grand Prix. PlanetF1.com understands Perez has been offered an ambassadorship-type role to remain employed by the brand for the future – a potentially very lucrative role for his future, with David Coulthard having enjoyed a similar role with the team since retiring from driving after 2008.

Perez has made it clear that he has a contract for next season, confirming in Abu Dhabi that he has no intention of resigning from his post – leading to all sorts of figures being mooted, speculatively, about the sums Red Bull may have to offer Perez in order for him to vacate his seat.

At present, the leading candidates to replace Perez in his seat are Racing Bulls drivers Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda, with the Kiwi driver understood to be the favourite by dint of his mental strength and outright potential – Lawson has completed just 11 races in Formula 1, and compared favourably against Tsunoda during their six races together at VCARB, with Tsunoda having almost four full years of experience in hand over Lawson.

With talks continuing last week, the path forward for Red Bull may be announced very soon, as Helmut Marko confirmed in his column for Speedweek.

“We will be announcing news on the driver pairing for next year in the next few days,” Marko said.

As for the figures which have been bandied about, with Nico Rosberg suggesting $16 million is being sought by the Perez camp”, Marko poured cold water on the rumours.

“There’s a lot of speculation about this, including rumours about possible transfer fees, which are complete nonsense,” he said.

Tsunoda had a last chance to impress Red Bull during last week’s test in Abu Dhabi as he was given an outing in the RB20, with Lawson at the wheel of the VCARB. Lawson duly finished two-tenths clear of Tsunoda and, while Tsunoda’s performance met with praise, it’s understood Lawson’s performance was seen as stronger.

Speaking about his chances at a Honda event following the test, Tsunoda assessed his chances of driving for Red Bull as being “50/50”.

“Of course, I’d be happiest if I could drive for Red Bull, but I’m incredibly grateful for all the support I’m receiving from everyone in this current situation,” he said.

“Regardless of which team I’m with, what I need to do remains the same. It’s not just about Red Bull. For all we know, VCARB might surpass them in development. It’s not like it absolutely has to be Red Bull.”

As for Lawson, the Kiwi driver told PlanetF1.com in Abu Dhabi about what he finds most exciting about the prospect of stepping into the Red Bull – racing alongside Max Verstappen.

“For me as a driver, to be able to go in against the guy who’s won four world championships and is well seasoned…. he’s been in that car for a long time,” he said.

“That car is almost… not developed around him, but he’s been a massive part of developing that car and understands it very well.

“In terms of how to drive it, it’s all right there on paper. When you see all the data that he brings in, for me as a driver to be alongside that, to be able to learn from him and have all that access, I think that’s what’s exciting for me about the opportunity… if that opportunity was to come in the future.”

If the decision taken is to remove Perez from the driving rosters, with Lawson or Tsunoda stepping up, this would thus open up a vacancy on the Racing Bulls line-up – it’s expected Formula 2 runner-up and Red Bull junior Isack Hadjar will be the young talent to step up.

It’s in Red Bull’s junior programme that Marko sees plenty of strength for the future, with the Austrian having always taken a keen interest in honing young talent.

“We are also very well positioned in the junior classes,” Marko said.

“In Nikola Tsolov, for example, we have a title contender in Formula 3, and we are also strongly represented in the new Eurocup. In addition, we are also sending promising talent onto the track in the English Formula 4 with the Hitech GP Team.

“We can also expect a lot from the youngsters in Formula 1. It is pleasing that after a long period in which there were hardly any changes, several promising rookies can show what they are made of.

“Next year we have Gabriel Bortoleto in the field, who won Formula 2, and Oliver Bearman and Kimi Antonelli are also moving up. And if we were to field a junior at Racing Bulls, that would mean four newcomers in the field, so we can already talk about a generational change.”