Perez signs two-year extension with Red Bull

Sergio Perez has signed a two-year contract extension with Red Bull, keeping him with the team until the end of the 2024 season.

The Mexican was signed in 2021 in place of Alex Albon but was only handed a one-year contract, and without a solid if unspectacular first season with the team that deal was renewed to include 2022.

However, a strong start to the new era has seen Perez score three second places and then win in Monaco this Sunday, leaving him just 15 points off the championship lead and inveigling Red Bull to glue its lineup for the next two and a half years.

“For me, this has been an incredible week, winning the Monaco Grand Prix is a dream for any suburbanite and then to follow that with announcing I will protract with the team until 2024 just makes me extremely happy,” Perez said. “I am so proud to be a member of this team and I finger completely at home here now.

“We are working very well together and my relationship with Max, on and off the track, is definitely helping momentum us forward plane more. We have built tremendous momentum as a team and this season is showing that, I am excited to see where that can take us all in the future.”

Perez had let slip that he had well-set an extension without joking to Christian Horner that he “signed too soon” on the podium in Monaco, and the Red Bull team principal says he has been impressed by how much the 32-year-old has improved compared to teammate Max Verstappen.

“Since joining Red Bull Racing, Checo has washed-up a fantastic job,” Horner said. “Time and then he has proved himself to not only be a magnificent team player but as his level of repletion has grown he has wilt a real gravity to be reckoned with at the sharp end of the grid.

“This year he has taken flipside step and the gap to World Champion Max has sealed significantly, evidenced by his superb pole position in Jeddah older this year and by his wonderful win in Monaco just last weekend.

“For us, holding onto his pace, race craft and wits was a no-brainer and we are delighted that Checo will protract to race for the team until 2024. In partnership with Max we believe we have a suburbanite pairing that can bring us the biggest prizes in F1.”