Nelson Piquet Jr. admits he could see £2.5m-a-year Red Bull rival replacing Sergio Perez next year

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The final six races of the 2024 Formula 1 season could end up determining the future of Sergio Perez at Red Bull, after speculation over whether he plans to continue.

His lacklustre season led to many believing that Perez could end up being replaced by Daniel Ricciardo after the summer break, following a poor run of results that put him over 100 points behind.

Crunch talks between Christian Horner and Helmut Marko happened before the second half of the season, but they decided to keep him in the car as they felt his struggles were partially to do with their problems with the RB20.

Perez later quashed talks of his planned retirement announcement after the Mexican GP with a post on social media, depicting a popular scene from the film Wolf of Wall Street.

Red Bull is currently 41 points behind McLaren in the Constructors’ Championship and faces a challenge for Ferrari, meaning Perez needs to start supporting Max Verstappen to recuperate their losses.

If he doesn’t, it could spell the end of his time at the team and see him replaced by another emerging talent this season according to Nelson Piquet Jr and Christian Fittipaldi on the Pelas Pistas Podcast.

Sergio Perez could be replaced by Oscar Piastri

It is no secret that Red Bull is looking for another talent after Verstappen, given he is unlikely to stay at the team for the rest of his F1 career.

Title rival Lando Norris was tipped to be a potential replacement, but now that could change given the dynamics at McLaren this season between him and Oscar Piastri.

Discussing whether Perez could be replaced by Piastri at Red Bull, former F1 driver Piquet believes it is a possibility.

Fittipaldi: “At the end of the year, I don’t see it as impossible for Oscar Piastri to go to Perez’s place at Red Bull next year.”

Piquet: “I agree.”

Fittipaldi: “Piastri might get a bit tired of the situation at McLaren and say ‘Thanks for your help but I need to think about myself'”

Sergio Perez ‘in breach of contract’ at Red Bull

Red Bull is reportedly already entitled to ‘part ways’ with Perez because he has failed to meet the performance clauses that are laid out in his contract.

Perez had to be at least 100 points within Verstappen when they reached the halfway point of the season, and so far he has been unable to outscore him in the last five races.

READ MORE: Red Bull driver Sergio Perez’s life outside F1 from net worth to nickname

The points deficit is likely to come under increased scrutiny in the final six races as Verstappen requires a rear-gunner to prevent McLaren from taking points away from him in the title battle with Norris.

But if the team orders dynamics at McLaren start to influence results, with Piastri forced to give up race wins, he could seek an alternative drive if he feels like he is unfairly being treated as a number two driver.