Formula One F1 - Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates - December 8, 2024 Red Bull's Sergio Perez before the race REUTERS/Jakub Porzycki/File Photo
(Reuters) - Mexican Sergio Perez has recognised his Formula One future with Red Bull is up in the air ahead of talks with his team this week.
Max Verstappen's struggling teammate has been adamant all season that he will still be there next year, despite a woeful run of results that ultimately cost Red Bull their constructors' title.
Perez accepted the situation was uncertain after retiring from Sunday's season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
"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," he said in a Red Bull post-race press release.
"It's a case of discussing what is the best for everybody moving forwards."
Perez suffered his second successive blank on Sunday, retiring after a first lap clash with Sauber's Valtteri Bottas.
The Mexican ended the season on 152 points, compared to quadruple champion Verstappen's 437, with only 49 points from the last 18 races.
Perez was also the only driver from the top four teams without a win this year. Verstappen won eight and clinched his fourth successive title in Las Vegas last month with two rounds to spare.
Team boss Christian Horner said after the Qatar Grand Prix, a weekend before Abu Dhabi, that he would let Perez "come to his own conclusions".
"Now we have got the season out of the way we will sit down with him and reflect on the season and obviously where it has gone wrong and collectively work out what is the right and appropriate way forward," he said on Sunday.
New Zealand's Liam Lawson, currently at Red Bull-owned RB, looks a favourite to take Perez's seat should the team decide to move the Mexican aside.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ken Ferris)
