Christian Horner provides update on Sergio Perez’s Red Bull future ahead of Las Vegas GP.

The future of Sergio Perez with Red Bull could be clearer than Christian Horner first suggested.

By providing clarification on a statement he made at the Mexican Grand Prix, Christian Horner has attempted to allay speculation that Sergio Perez may be planning to depart Red Bull at the end of the current campaign. Perez has won two races and secured six more podium finishes this season, placing him in second place in the world championship with 258 points.

However, in the six races since he finished in second place in Italy on September 3, he has finished nowhere twice, finishing eighth and tenth the last time out. His most recent finishes were in fourth place in Austin and Interlagos.

Disappointingly, the Mexican crashed out of his home Grand Prix on the first corner last month and it was here that Horner provided an update on the driver’s future that suggested he could still move elsewhere before the start of the 2024 campaign.

Horner said: “Checo (Perez) has an agreement with us for next year and that’s our intention, for him to be in the car in 2024. We’ll give him all the support we can to ensure that he finishes second [in the drivers’ championship] but there’s no prerequisite that if he doesn’t finish second, you’re out.”

The use of the word ‘intention’ has given rise to suggestions that Red Bull could have another plan up their sleeve when it comes to determining who will partner reigning world champion Max Verstappen next season.

But when Motorsport.com asked Horner to clarify his comments, he said: “I am absolutely confident and clear that Checo will be our driver next year. Now, if he was injured or something like that, there are circumstances beyond our control. But the clear plan and therefore the clear intention is that he will continue.

“We’re planning to continue. We have announced the AlphaTauri drivers, we have our Red Bull Racing drivers. That is how we intend to go racing in 2024.”

Rumors that Red Bull is trying to find a replacement for Perez have forced Horner to repeatedly refute them, but the team’s principal maintains that the noise outside the camp hasn’t had an impact on the team’s performance, saying, “It hasn’t because it’s only noise on the outside.” Internally, everything is always evident.”

But when asked if Perez himself might have suffered as a result of the rumors, Horner said, “I’m sure it does.” However, I believe that one of his strengths—and what we’ve seen with him—is that he has a very thick skin.