Marko denies intervention from Liberty Media in Perez's case as he opens up on the driver situation at Red Bull

Red Bull's Motorsport Advisor Dr. Helmut Marko denies reports that claimed that the Milton Keynes-headquartered outfit retained the services of Sergio Perez after Liberty Media lobbied for the Mexican driver.

Despite a freshly-signed two-year contract extension, Sergio Perez's future at Red Bull has been hanging in the balance. The Mexican enjoyed an impressive start to the 2024 F1 season, but his performance faded just after five races.

The six-time F1 race winner has struggled for one-lap pace in qualifying which has often had a huge impact on his race weekends. At the last race before the summer break at Spa, it had emerged that Red Bull might re-consider its driver line-up for 2025 with Liam Lawson and Daniel Ricciardo having emerged as possible replacement for Perez.

However, the team has confirmed that the Mexican will continue to drive for Red Bull in the remainder of the season, albeit Motorsport Advisor Dr. Helmut Marko insisted that the team will evaluate its driver line-ups for next season.

Expanding on the current situation, Marko noted: "Sergio Pérez will continue to drive the Red Bull Racing car after the summer break, as there are now races on tracks where he was good last year and we are counting on stability.

"He has also shown good performances from time to time, and at the last race weekend in Spa he was very fast on Saturday, finishing third. He was allowed to start from second position and according to the calculations, third place would have been possible.

"But we saw that his tires had degraded significantly more. He couldn't push and on top of that we only had two sets of medium tires and one set of hard compound, while the competition had two sets of hard and one set of medium tires. That was perhaps a decisive factor."

Marko denied the rumours that claimed that Formula One's Commercial Rights' Holder Liberty Media intervened which prompted Red Bull to retain Perez until the end of the season.

"Pérez doesn't need to get faster, just more consistent. And given the alternatives, he is still our best solution. Reports that his continued commitment is due to Liberty Media's desire for him to race in Mexico are not true. They certainly want him to race in his home race, but our choice of driver is not based on Liberty Media's intentions."

"We will announce what happens next with Liam Lawson in September. It has been planned for some time that he would be able to gain more Formula 1 experience in Imola. Even though the competition would like to use him on loan, he is not available for that.

"Our Formula 2 driver Isack Hadjar took his fourth victory in the highest Formula racing class in Spa. He clearly has the potential for Formula 1.

"We'll see how things develop, but he will certainly take on some role. It could be that he will spend a year as a test and simulator driver, like Lawson," concluded Marko.