F1: Sergio Perez's Red Bull seat not in danger for 2024, assures Christian Horner

After Sergio Perez won two out of the first five races of the 2023 Formula 1 season and secured a podium in the two others, it seemed like Red Bull fans would be treated with an in-team battle as well as a tough competition between the two drivers for the drivers' championship. However, the Mexican driver's form dipped significantly thereon, with Max Verstappen going on to be crowned the World Champion for the third time in a row with six Grand Prix races left in the season.
The dip in form led to speculations that Red Bull is looking to prematurely end Sergio Perez's contract that runs until the end of 2024, with a host of potential suitors in the form of AlphaTauri's Daniel Ricciardo, Yuki Tsunoda, Liam Lawson, among other Red Bull Junior Team drivers.Red Bull advisor and driver program boss Helmut Marko even went on to say that Checo's future lies elsewhere, hinting that the driver has until Mexican GP, his home race, to prove himself.

However, Red Bull Racing Team Principal has now assured that Perez will continue to race for the team next year, even if the driver doesn't finish as the runner-up in the championship. Horner insists that is not the case, and says that while Red Bull would like nothing more than for Perez to finish second for a sensational 1-2 finish, his seat for next year is guaranteed irrespective of what happens.
"There's no pre-mandate like that," said Horner when asked if Perez's future rested on finishing second.
"We've never finished first and second in a championship. We finished first and third a few times with Mark [Webber] and Sebastian [Vettel] and we finished it last year with Max and Checo. So, with this car, it would be fantastic, in such a season that we've had, if we could finish first and second. But there's no pre-mandate on Checo that you have to finish second or you won't be driving the car next year. That's never been discussed."
It should be noted that Red Bull is not new to ousting drivers mid-season. The Milton Keynes-based Austrian team demoted Pierre Gasly to Toro Rosso (now AlphaTauri) in 2019 after 12 rounds, while Red Bull's second team AlphaTauri fired rookie Nyck de Vries only halfway through the 2023 F1 season, replacing him with Daniel Ricciardo.
Do you think Sergio Perez should be retained by Red Bull Racing as the second driver alongside Max Verstappen after his contract runs out in 2024? Let us know in the comments down below.