The ‘serious’ Sergio Perez retirement rumours that could give Daniel Ricciardo F1 lifeline

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Sergio Perez relapsed into poor form at the Singapore Grand Prix last weekend. Perez had shown small signs of improvement since the summer break, but only scored one point under the lights.

Red Bull considered axing the Mexican in July but ultimately kept faith. His results in the Netherlands and Italy – sixth and eighth – weren’t impressive, but the key difference was that Max Verstappen was no longer challenging for victories.

Prior to the race in Singapore, Red Bull engineers even apologised to Perez. They told him they should have heeded his concerns about the RB20’s handling earlier, with Verstappen now falling victim on the other side of the garage.

In Baku, he produced perhaps his best display of the season, outqualifying the world champion for the first time since Miami 2023. He was on course to end an 11-round podium drought on Sunday before a race-ending tangle with Carlos Sainz on the penultimate lap.

Red Bull expected Perez to shine in Baku and they were also optimistic for Singapore in light of his 2022 victory. But after a stabilising run of four straight Q3 appearances, he could only qualify 13th on Saturday.

On a circuit where overtaking is difficult, he wasn’t able to make much progress. P10 was his worst result since Silverstone (17th), and he suffered the ignominy of being lapped by race-winner Lando Norris.

Sergio Perez could save Daniel Ricciardo by walking away from F1

Speaking on Viaplay’s In de Slipstream programme, racing driver Allard Kalff suggested that Perez may have been left ‘broken’ by the events of this year. There are rumours that he could be considering retirement.

He signed a new contract as recently as June, one that could keep him on the grid until the end of 2026. But Red Bull have rather publicly considered breaking that agreement already.

Perez may switch to another less demanding discipline instead. With 275 race starts under his belt, the 34-year-old is the third-most experienced driver on the grid behind Fernando Alonso (395) and Lewis Hamilton (350).

This would open a vacancy alongside Verstappen, likely filled by either Liam Lawson or Yuki Tsunoda. Daniel Ricciardo, who may not race again this year, could therefore return to RB for 2025.

“There is also a story that Sergio Perez would like to stop driving Formula 1 and even start car racing,” Kalff said. “It’s hard to say that things are going great for him. Maybe he’s broken.”

Asked if the rumours were ‘serious’, he replied: “Yes. You could say we put Lawson or Tsunoda in it, but then you also need Ricciardo. You have to let someone drive or you have to go all the way to the young talents. Something like that could also happen.”

Zak Brown tells Red Bull what they should do with Daniel Ricciardo

Red Bull can use the next six Grands Prix to assess Lawson, with confirmation of the driver swap thought to be imminent. Should Perez walk away, the New Zealander would likely be the favourite to partner Verstappen given that Tsunoda’s name has hardly featured in discussions up to this point.

The question then is whether they’d invite Ricciardo back, and overlook their driver academy in the process. If not, Isack Hadjar could race for RB in 2025 after impressing in Formula 2.

It remains likely, then, that Ricciardo has driven in his final Grand Prix. It was hardly a picturebook farewell as he finished down in 18th, albeit with the fastest lap.

Zak Brown wants Red Bull to keep Ricciardo until Abu Dhabi. But there may be contractual clauses at play, something the McLaren boss naturally isn’t aware of.