Sports
Red Bull F1 faces tough decisions as Sergio Pérez finally signals his looming exit
Bringing his car to a stop after a hit from Valtteri Bottas, Sergio Pérez must have known that would likely be his final act as a Red Bull Formula One driver.
At the end of a disappointing — in his own words, “terrible” — year, Pérez didn’t even get the chance to complete a single lap in the Abu Dhabi season finale. The clout from Bottas, for which the Sauber driver was penalized, caused Pérez’s RB20 to lose power and come to a halt.
It denied Pérez the chance to sign off from F1 2024 on a positive note. But speaking after the retirement, he admitted for the first time he may not race for Red Bull in 2025.
“We’re talking to try and see what’s best going forward, and we’ll see what happens in the coming days,” Pérez said. He added he and the team would “discuss what is the situation for both parties and see if we’re able to reach an agreement.”
It became clear heading to Abu Dhabi that Pérez’s time at Red Bull was running out. The team had lost out on the constructors’ championship, ending the season third behind McLaren and Ferrari — and, with it, the associated prize money. It’s only the third time since 2000 that the drivers’ champion, Verstappen, does not drive for the constructors’ champion.
At the end of a year of speculation about Pérez’s future, it at last seems that Red Bull decided enough was enough and that a change is required for 2025.
Until Sunday, Pérez had been defiant — that he would be at Red Bull next year, despite his underperformance this season, scoring barely one-third of Max Verstappen’s points total and failing to finish on the podium since round five in China. As he kept saying, he had signed a contract extension in June.
Pérez stuck to his guns about his 2025 contract through Thursday’s media day. After qualifying on Saturday, he still didn’t entertain a thought about Sunday being his last race with Red Bull, saying there was “nothing new to add to what I’ve been saying before.”
The change in tune from Pérez on Sunday was also present in Red Bull’s post-race press release. In it, the team quoted Pérez as saying: “We will see what happens in the coming days, I don’t know what is going to happen at the moment, I have a contract and the team and I have been talking. It’s a case of discussing what is the best for everybody moving forwards.”
Talks started in Abu Dhabi between Pérez’s camp and Red Bull about working on the agreement that Pérez referred to, essentially a deal for him to give up the race seat for next year. Given Pérez’s contribution to Red Bull’s recent success in F1, some kind of ambassadorial role is certainly on the table.
Pérez scored 65 points since the Chinese GP in April. Verstappen scored 337 points. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
After the race, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said the team wanted to sit down with Pérez and “work out what is the right and appropriate way forward.” He highlighted Pérez’s efforts at the team, particularly the two constructors’ titles and his assist for Max Verstappen at the 2021 finale in Abu Dhabi. Despite the difficulty of 2024, there remains a lot of respect for the driver at Red Bull.
“Sitting here now, he’s still our driver,” Horner said. “So it would be wrong for me to speculate on what next year may look like until he and I have sat down and discussed this year, and we reflect on it as a team.”
But Horner also said the drop to third in the championship showed why having two drivers consistently scoring was crucial, especially going into another competitive season in 2025. “Ferrari will be strong with their line-up next year,” he said. “McLaren have a strong line-up. Mercedes will have an inexperienced driver in one of their seats. And so for us, it’s very important that both of our drivers are delivering and there’s not a significant gap.”
Once Pérez’s presumed exit is agreed upon, Red Bull’s next task will be to decide who will race alongside Verstappen. Horner said the four-time champion is the “hardest teammate in the world to have.”
All the signs in Abu Dhabi pointed to RB’s Liam Lawson getting the nod and becoming a Red Bull Racing driver in 2025. The New Zealander retired late in Abu Dhabi after an earlier loose wheel cost him the chance to fight for points, and he only has 11 F1 races to his name. However, he has always been highly regarded within the Red Bull setup, particularly by adviser Helmut Marko. Red Bull also has a history of backing such inexperience, promoting Alex Albon to become Verstappen’s teammate after only 12 races in 2019. Lawson, 22, has just one retirement and six points.
Promoting Lawson would be a blow to Yuki Tsunoda, who qualified ahead in all six races they spent as teammates this year. Tsunoda, 24, has raced for RB since 2021 and made decent progress each year, yet doubts appear to linger from Red Bull over promoting him to the senior squad.
“I think Liam, in challenging circumstances, he’s done a very good job,” Horner said post-race in Abu Dhabi. “If you analyze what he’s done in the time that he’s had and the race pace that he’s had, I think he’s done a good job.
“I think Yuki has done a good job. In the event that anything were decided with Checo, they’d be the candidates that we would look towards.”
If Red Bull named Lawson as Verstappen’s teammate for 2025, it would open up a seat alongside Tsunoda at RB that looks likely to be filled by Isack Hadjar. Hadjar, 20, finished runner-up in this year’s F2 standings and participated in two F1 practice sessions for Red Bull in 2024. He hinted in Qatar that he already knew his plans for 2025, having emerged as the leading youngster in Red Bull’s junior program waiting to move up to F1.
Sergio Perez walks to his garage after the qualifying session ahead of the Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix. (HAMAD I MOHAMMED/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Pérez’s struggles through 2024 have been tough to watch. He started strong, scoring four podiums in the first five races. At Suzuka, a true ‘driver’s track’ where Verstappen’s natural gifts come to the fore, he was within a tenth of taking pole. When his form started to dip, Red Bull thought the new contract would provide the backing and boost he needed. Horner admitted on Friday that it simply “didn’t work.”
That effort to support Pérez has left the team in its current position, trying to work out agreeable terms for his exit and ending a rollercoaster four-season partnership. Horner said there was “no immediate rush” to work things out, but a swift resolution would surely suit all parties.
It would give Red Bull the chance to turn the page and put full focus on 2025 — and, presuming he gets the seat, give Lawson the most amount of time to prepare for the most formidable job in all of racing: being Verstappen’s teammate. It is a task that Pérez warned on Thursday, perhaps knowing how the wind was blowing, would be a big test for any young driver.
“Being teammates with Max at Red Bull as a young driver, I wouldn’t like to be in those shoes, if I’m honest,” Pérez said.
“People cannot underestimate the level of challenge that there is in this seat.”
Top photo: Mark Thompson/Getty Images
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Top Milwaukee Brewers prospect Frank Cairone was hospitalized after being involved in a serious car accident near his New Jersey home on Friday, the team announced.
“Frank is currently being cared for at a hospital in New Jersey with the support of his family,” read a statement from the team, via MLB.com. “The Brewers’ thoughts and prayers are with Frank and his family during his difficult time.”
Pitcher Frank Cairone (left) with Green Valley High School (NV) infielder Caden Kirby during the MLB Draft Combine high school baseball game at Chase Field. (Mark J. Rebilas/Imagn Images)
The left-handed pitcher turned 18 this past September. He was drafted out of Delsea Regional High School in Franklinville, N.J. at No. 68 overall in the 2025 Draft.
News of the Brewers’ young prospect’s accident came shortly after the team announced it was not in contact with several players in Venezuela after U.S. military strikes in the country and the capture of its President Nicolás Maduro.
MLB TEAM UNAWARE OF STATUS OF PLAYERS IN VENEZUELA AFTER US MILITARY STRIKES
Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio (11) is seen before the fifth inning of an MLB game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Toronto Blue Jays on August 31, 2025, at Rogers Centre in Toronto, ON. (Mathew Tsang/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Brewers president of baseball operations Matt Arnold revealed the team is unaware of the status of the players in a statement Saturday.
“We don’t have much info at the moment but are trying to follow up,” Arnold said, via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “We know the airports have been shut down but not much beyond that.”
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Pitcher Frank Cairone during the MLB Draft Combine high school baseball game at Chase Field. (Mark J. Rebilas/Imagn Images)
The team’s players in Venezuela include star outfielder Jackson Chourio, infielder Andruw Monasterio and catcher Jeferson Quero, according to the outlet.
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It might be time to write a folk song about the demise of City Section basketball using the music of Peter, Paul and Mary and the new title, “Where Have All the Players Gone?”
The talent level clearly has hit rock bottom only a year after Alijah Arenas was a McDonald’s All-American at Chatsworth High and Tajh Ariza led Westchester to the City Section Open Division title. Because their parents went to City Section schools, Arenas and Ariza stuck it out. Then Arenas graduated early to join USC and Ariza left for St. John Bosco, then prep school.
Westchester is where Ed Azzam won 15 City titles in 42 seasons until his retirement in 2021. Crenshaw is where Willie West won 16 City titles and eight state titles. Taft is where Derrick Taylor won four City titles and coached future NBA players Jordan Farmar, Larry Drew II and AJ Johnson. Fairfax is where Harvey Kitani coached for 35 years, won four City titles and two state titles and earned most of his nearly 1,000 victories. He was followed by Steve Baik and Reggie Morris Jr., each of whom won City championships before leaving.
None of the City schools once considered among the best in Southern California are even close to resembling their glory days, and they aren’t alone. The City Section has lost most of its talent, and it was truly Hall of Fame talent: Marques Johnson and John Williams at Crenshaw; Gail Goodrich at Sun Valley Poly; Willie Naulls at San Pedro; Dwayne Polee at Manual Arts; Gilbert Arenas at Grant; Trevor Ariza at Westchester; Chris Mills at Fairfax. There were decades of success.
There’s no one person to blame. You can’t even place the downfall solely on the Los Angeles Unified School District, whose high schools compete in the City Section.
But LAUSD has done nothing to reverse the trend and didn’t help matters by opening so many new schools in such rapid fashion that longtime legacy schools lost their luster amid declining student enrollment. Things became even more disruptive by the rise of charter schools and private schools taking away top athletes. Adding to that, the loss of veteran coaches frustrated by bureaucracy issues and rules that force programs to secure permits and pay to use their own gyms in the offseason helped further the exodus.
Westchester is 2-8 this season and an example of where City Section basketball stands. Two top players from last season — Gary Ferguson and Jordan Ballard — are now at St. Bernard. Westchester doesn’t even have a roster posted on MaxPreps. King/Drew won its first City Open Division title in 2024 under coach Lloyd Webster. This season Webster sent his senior son, Josahn, to Rolling Hills Prep to play for Kitani. King/Drew is 4-10.
Charter schools Birmingham, Palisades and Granada Hills have separated themselves in virtually all City Section sports including basketball. They have no enrollment boundaries as long as there’s a seat for a student. Palisades lost so many students after the wildfire last year that transfers have been big additions for its teams this school year. Online courses are being offered to help students enroll and compete in sports at charter schools.
The old powers from the inner city — Crenshaw, Dorsey, Jefferson, Locke and Fremont — experienced big changes in demographics. Many coaches are walk-ons and not teachers. The legacy schools have to compete with charter schools View Park Prep, Triumph, Animo Watts, Animo Robinson, WISH Academy and USC-MAE. When young players are discovered and developed, rarely will they stay when one of the private schools or AAU coaches searching for talent spots them in the offseason.
So what’s left? Not much.
Palisades, Washington Prep and Cleveland look like the three top teams this season. All three added transfers to help buck the downward trend. And yet their records are 3-10, 8-8 and 7-6, respectively, against mostly Southern Section teams.
Maybe this can be a fluke one-year plunge to the bottom and the climb back up can begin, aided by coaches who recognize their job is to teach lessons in basketball, life and college preparation. Parents need a reason to send their kids to a City Section school. It’s up to LAUSD and principals to help change the trajectory by finding coaches with integrity, passion and willingness to embrace the underdog role.
There are plenty in the system doing their best. It’s time to start hearing and answering their pleas for help.
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The Seattle Seahawks locked down the top seed in the NFC playoffs and a strong path to the Super Bowl on Saturday night with a season finale win over the San Francisco 49ers.
Seattle also finished with their best regular season record in franchise history, clinching 14 wins for the first time ever.
The Seahawks held on to a 10-point victory despite outgaining the 49ers 363 yards to 173, and running 64 plays to San Francisco’s 42.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba #11 of the Seattle Seahawks fails to catch the ball against Ji’Ayir Brown #27 of the San Francisco 49ers during an NFL game on Jan. 3, 2026 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. (Matthew Huang/Icon Sportswire)
Seattle missed a field goal in the fourth quarter and turned the ball over on downs in the first quarter to waste two red zone drives, but dominated on defense to prevent those missed opportunities from coming back to haunt them.
The 49ers wasted their best drive of the night as well when quarterback Brock Purdy was intercepted at Seattle’s three-yard line in the fourth quarter facing a 10-point deficit, which seemingly secured the game for the Seahawks.
NFL WEEK 17 SCORES: AFC NORTH, NFC SOUTH UP FOR GRABS AS PLAYOFF PICTURE ALMOST COMPLETE
Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold, in his first season on the team, completed 20 passes on 26 attempts for 198 yards and helped set up the only touchdown of the entire game in the first quarter.
Darnold redeemed a disappointing Week-18 game for the Minnesota Vikings last season when he completed just 18 of 41 passes for 166 yards in a battle for the top seed against the Detroit Lions.
Darnold said “Learning from mistakes, and staying calm from the pocket,” made the difference in his performance Saturday compared to a year ago, in a postgame interview with ESPN.
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Jaxon Smith-Njigba #11 of the Seattle Seahawks carries the ball against the San Francisco 49ers during the second quarter of a game at Levi’s Stadium on January 03, 2026 in Santa Clara, California. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Meanwhile, 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy had just 127 yards with the late interception, and took a big hit on his final pass of the night, then took a while to get back up. He was eventually able to walk off the field, and Seattle ran the clock out.
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