“I am delighted to be staying here to continue our journey together and contribute to this team’s great history for two more years,” said Sergio Perez announcing the extension of his Red Bull contract. However, this was not an obvious course of action as far as the rumor mill and speculations were considered. This came as a shock, probably due to Perez’s unimpressive performance, as he couldn’t make it to Q3 on eight occasions in the 2023 campaign and is fifth in the drivers’ championship after eight rounds of the 2024 season. However, there are multiple factors that played in his favor. Take a look.

Why did Red Bull decide to stick with Perez?

Carlos Sainz, Yuki Tsunoda, Daniel Ricciardo, and Liam Lawson were just some of the options that Red Bull had for their second seat. The team evaluated all these drivers. Carlos Sainz won a race and has taken three podiums this year, but his Toro Roso past probably stood in the way of his recruitment. It was public knowledge that Max Verstappen‘s father Jos and Carlos Sainz Sr. didn’t get along very well when their sons were teammates. As far as the VCARB lineup is concerned, Daniel hasn’t shown a glimpse of his 8x GP winner self yet, and Yuki’s newness couldn’t trump Perez’s comfortable partnership with Max.

Their reserve driver, Liam Lawson, who filled in for Daniel for a couple of races last year, was a suitor as well. However, it is unlikely for the team to directly promote him next to Max when they have a sister team to assess a driver before putting them in a championship-winning car. Though Lawson has been promised a seat by Helmut Marko for the 2025 campaign, it wasn’t an RB seat, so the talented driver can be recruited by other teams as well.

Keeping that in mind, they decided to continue with Perez and thus offered Perez an extended stay. A two-year deal will take Perez through to the end of 2026, with Red Bull marking the longest partnership in F1 ever. However, there might be a performance clause in the deal that could be triggered at the end of next year.

Sergio Perez is a game-changer for Red Bull in F1’s most important market

Logan Sargeant joined F1 last year, making him the first American driver to take part in a Grand Prix weekend session since Alexander Rossi in 2015. Before that and before the advent of Netflix’s Drive to Survive, the US fanbase only had eyes for one, i.e. Sergio Perez. The unprecedented loyalty and admiration for the Mexican driver is a foundational block for the explosion of F1’s popularity in North America. Here are a few statistics you can consider to form your conclusion.

In 2022, U.S. census data revealed that California, Texas, and Arizona are three of the five states boasting the largest numbers of Hispanic-identifying residents. In states like Texas, people of Hispanic origin are the largest demographic group. According to 2023 data revealed by Bet MGM, Sergio Perez was the most searched-for driver on Google in many of the states that border Mexico: California, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.

Perez’s popularity now boasts a huge roster of sponsors. This was also aided by his close friendship with Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim. Perez has signed top-dollar deals with Mexican companies like Telmex, Kavak, Claro, and Telcel. Those deals still hold value because Perez still enjoys massive public admiration. Keeping this in mind, Red Bull sure would have a tilt towards the man who brings sponsors like the Mexican wireless telecommunications company Telcel, Disney, Mobil, Claro, Nescafé, and KitKat, especially in light of Verstappen’s $55 million-a-year contract.

With a 500% hike in Mexican F1 viewership, the drinks company also sells a lot of cans and enjoys goodwill. But while there were a lot of factors playing in favor of Perez, Carlos Sainz is still an unemployed driver. What does the future hold for him?

What does it mean for Carlos Sainz?

“You’ve had a very fast unemployed driver win today. The market is reasonably fluid with certain drivers. Carlos is the only driver that’s beaten Red Bull [in the last two years], so he appears to be our nemesis,” said Christian Horner when Carlos Sainz won the 2024 Australian GP. This admiration led to speculation that Milton Keynes was interested in the Spanish driver. Sainz probably would have hoped Red Bull was it for him, but that door is closed now. Perhaps Mercedes isn’t interested either. Leaving Audi, Haas, and Williams as his best options.