£215k-a-week F1 driver very unlikely to still be racing in Formula 1 in 2025

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Esteban Ocon’s announcement as Haas’s newest driver alongside Oliver Bearman leaves just five available seats on the grid for 2025.

Half the teams on the grid have finalised their line-ups for next season with stability seen as key before new regulations are introduced to Formula 1 in 2026.

However, the beauty of the Formula 1 driver’s market is that nothing is ever set in stone despite the contract drivers are attached to.

Journalist Tim Hauraney was speaking on the Nailing The Apex Podcast about one driver who might be in a precarious position.

The likes of Carlos Sainz and Valtteri Bottas are still free agents for next year but will rate their chances of staying on the grid very highly.

However, Logan Sargeant, Kevin Magnussen and Zhou Guanyu need a sudden improvement in form to attract the interest of any teams on the grid.

The driver who appears to be in the most danger of losing his seat this season is Sergio Perez.

The 34-year-old knows he needs a strong performance in Belgium with Helmut Marko suggesting talks with Perez over his future will take place next week.

Hauraney believes that Perez has a good chance of surviving the summer break with Red Bull.

However, he simply can’t see Red Bull sticking with Perez for the 2025 season.

The team need to find a race seat for Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar is seriously impressing in Formula 2 this year.

That makes the £215,000-a-week driver the natural choice if someone has to miss out and Daniel Ricciardo’s future is far from certain as well.

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Sergio Perez unlikely to be on the Formula 1 grid in 2025

Asked whether Perez getting a good result in Spa delays Red Bull dropping him during the summer break, Hauraney said: “That’s a great question, I don’t know.

“It sort of sounds like [they’ve made up their minds already], when you hear all the stuff Horner’s saying in the media.

“But it does sort of sound like it, but again if they’re able to get him to be confident with things, get him a good result in Spa then they probably would stick it out with him for the rest of the season.

“As for next year though, that’s a definite, I don’t think he’s going to be back there.

“Think about how competitive it’s going to be next season, you think this season’s competitive? Wait until you see what happens next year!”

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Christian Horner and Helmut Marko would have been aware as soon as they handed Liam Lawson a contract with a clause guaranteeing him a race seat that a difficult decision was looming.

Sergio Perez’s form makes their choice slightly easier, however, neither Yuki Tsunoda nor Daniel Ricciardo have stood out enough to be the obvious choice to step up and replace him this year.

It leaves Red Bull with a conundrum at a time when McLaren are pushing them in the Constructors’ Championship.

Perez at least presents the team with a known quantity at a time when uncertainty could cost them a title.

It puts further pressure on Verstappen to perform and while that might be telling in the tone of his radio messages, he’s proved time and again that he’s capable of handling that level of responsibility.