Perez set to return to racing with Ferrari after his exit from Red Bull
In the face of his exit from Red Bull, it has emerged that Sergio Perez might return to racing next year, joining Ferrari's Hypercar programme in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Red Bull announced earlier this week that Sergio Perez will leave the team with immediate effect as the Milton Keynes-based outfit and the Mexican driver have reached an agreement to part ways ahead of next season.
The decision put an end to the speculation of recent months, and means that the Mexican driver will leave the Austro-British outfit despite the deal that would have seen the 34-year-old driver race for the team until the end of 2026.
The Guadalajara-born driver joined Red Bull in 2021, and helped his team-mate Max Verstappen win his first championship title that year, playing a pivotal role at the title-deciding 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
However, he has failed to deliver a consistent performance over the last couple of years. Perez has won five races with Red Bull, and finished second in the Drivers' Championship last year, but he has endured periods during which he simply struggled for outright pace in qualifying.
After a strong start to the 2024 season, Red Bull elected to extend his contract by a further two years which would see Perez race for the Milton Keynes-based outfit until at least the end of the 2026 F1 season. However, the Mexican struggled for pace after his contract extension.
It has now emerged that Perez might return to Ferrari next year. The Mexican became part of Ferrari's Driver Academy at the end of 2010, which helped him make his F1 debut with Sauber in the following season.
Perez is believed to be in talks with Ferrari to drive for the Maranello-based outfit in the FIA World Endurance Championship. The Spanish outlet Marca reported that Perez would not complete the full season with of next year's WEC, but only four races, but his schedule would include the blue riband event of the series, the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
However, Ferrari’s hypercar team has already announced its full line-up for the 2025 World Endurance Championship which means that the Italian outfit would need to make significant change to its programme if it wants to sign Perez.
The successful trio of Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, and Nicklas Nielsen will remain in car #50, while James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi, and Alessandro Pier Guidi will continue in car #51.
Ferrari’s customer team, AF Corse, has also finalized its drivers for 2025, with Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye, and newcomer Phil Hanson.