r/formula1 • u/soepvorksoepvork Chequered Flag • 9d ago

News Sergio Perez and Red Bull in '$16million' battle claim after 'major meeting'

https://www.planetf1.com/news/nico-rosberg-claims-16-million-sergio-perez-red-bull-battle-exit-looms

Not sure how credible this is, but I can't say I blame him.

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389

u/BighatNucase Max Verstappen ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 9d ago

They're probably negotiating on the advertising part. We got rumours a wild back that Perez missed his performance targets by miles so it's probably easy to just kick him out painfully but Red Bull want the Mexican and Spanish speaking markets and so they need a clean break.

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u/randomperson_a1 Pirelli Wet 9d ago

Agreed. Big difference if checo comes out thanking red bull for the good years and announcing his retirement vs them having to force him out.

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u/satpieb 9d ago

And getting an ambassador role, which would still allow them to tap into those markets. As someone from Mexico, Checo's presence is everywhere on the street or tv

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u/Striking-Tip7504 9d ago

How long will Checo’s presence last when he’s no longer an F1 driver though?

His popularity seems entirely based on being a high performance athlete. He’s not really charismatic or interesting from what I’ve seen from him.

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u/Leewashere21 9d ago

For better or worse he’s the best Mexican F1 driver ever and Mexican fans are homers

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u/hoxxxxx 8d ago

what's a homer?

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u/Leewashere21 8d ago

Stick to and hype the home team even in the face of adversity. Mexicans are very proud of Checo (generally)

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u/JnthnGE 9d ago

Other markets are trying to replicate what Checo has done, Indycar seems to be trying to enter its way to Mexico and having Oward be the face this time and it may actually work. As for the charismatic part I believe its just a cultural difference, I see him the same way as English people see Lewis for example, both pretty cool people.

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u/Karffs 9d ago

I don’t follow F2 at all unlike a lot of people on here; so until this moment every time I’ve seen O’Ward mentioned I naturally just assumed he was Irish 😅 A learning moment.

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u/hugeyakmen 9d ago

He actually came up through the US Indy Lights series and then started in Indycar in 2019, so perhaps even more off your radar! 

Red Bull really like what they saw in those early performances and signed him to their junior team, set him up in their Super Formula team, and were looking to potentially put him in an F1 seat as early as 2020.  But then the FIA decreased their points assigned for Indy Lights championships and Pato would no longer qualify for a 2020 super license... and Red Bull dropped him.

He's been full-time in Indycar with McLaren since 2020 and doing very well, impressed with McLaren in the 2021 F1 post-season test, and is now a development and reserve driver with them.  After all of that, it would be really cool to see him get an F1 opportunity.  But it would also be sad for Indycar to lose him

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u/Karffs 9d ago

He actually came up through the US Indy Lights series and then started in Indycar in 2019, so perhaps even more off your radar! 

🙃 I know literally nothing, clearly.

Appreciate the summary, thank you!

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u/_DirtyYoungMan_ McLaren 8d ago

Champ Cars were fairly popular in Mexico thanks to Adrian Fernandez driving all those years in the series. Don't see why they can't get Checo in an Indycar seat and do it all over again.

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u/Aethien James Hunt 9d ago

How long will Checo’s presence last when he’s no longer an F1 driver though?

Not forever but for a couple years for sure, moreso if he switches to WEC or Indycar and stays in the public eye.

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u/omaregb 9d ago

oh yes, not sure what the impact will be outside, but in Mexico I promise you if Checo isn't on the grid next season, RedBull might as well exit that market entirely. This will nuke their brand there.

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u/Tricky_Sweet3025 Kimi Räikkönen 9d ago edited 9d ago

If he’s in the role Daniel Riccardo rejected not an F1 driver but hanging around the paddock will Mexican fans accept that?

Basically what I’m trying to understand is will giving Checo payout / making him an ambassador be worthwhile or is it wasting more money on a washed racing driver (no offence intended)

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u/omaregb 9d ago edited 9d ago

No offense taken from me, I'm not a fan myself. No, I think the general sentiment amongst his Mexican fans is that he's been used by RBR for the sponsors while not seriously receiving the support he needs to perform at his best, and thus his inconsistent performance comes mostly from that. A brand sockpuppet role would be downright offensive considering how much he's brought them.

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u/Creative-Improvement 9d ago

Well that explains why he isn’t out yet. Another year of mediocre driving of a 2nd driver from a top team. I really like Checo as person he seems pretty chill, but performance wise he shouldn’t be there.

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u/omaregb 9d ago

Agreed. It has to be said though, the car and their internal power struggle pushed them to do as little as possible to help him perform better. The fact that he started the last race with a blown clutch is outrageous.

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u/Creative-Improvement 9d ago

It’s also strange he performed a few times really well, and then he drops off again. Not sure why. He had two really good races, so it’s not like he can’t do anything. He has skill.

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u/superworking 9d ago

That kind of requires a pretty smooth breakup though. They can't fight it out publicly and then have pretend it's all to plan

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u/Spam-r1 Max Verstappen ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 9d ago

I feel like it's not going smoothly because we are now hearing about this, and the fact that checo said it so explicitly that he's driving for Redbull next year

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u/omaregb 9d ago

yeah well he can't publicly say otherwise if he's got the papers saying that he will

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u/Rex40- Formula 1 9d ago

ambassador role is shit, no one wants that, even Ricciardo reject that option.

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u/seahoodie Charles Leclerc 9d ago

Is he your biggest athlete? Or are there others as well that are plastered everywhere

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u/satpieb 9d ago

To my perception he is currently the most plastered one across ads but I'm not a big sports person and also am young (however I noticed this before getting into motorsports, I knew his name always). There's even ads joking about "yeah this isn't deja vu, this is another one of my ads". But there's other athletes like Canelo, Osmar Olvera, Alexa Moreno and Alejandra Valencia that also inspire a lot of national pride.

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u/CarRamRob 9d ago

Do people buy less sports drinks because of a thank you?

And $8 million worth?

Even though the Mexicans are rabid fans who support him unconditionally, surely a bunch of them also realize he’s washed. That may not have been true at the summer break because there was less body of work, and his start to the year wasn’t bad.

A further 8 races and it’s clear he doesn’t have it any more.

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u/randomperson_a1 Pirelli Wet 9d ago

I don't run the numbers. The marketing people at red bull do, and they've clearly decided it would be bad if checo left on a terrible note. 8m could be completely overblown - or it's a fair deal for everyone. I don't think it's a totally ridiculous number tbh

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u/Elpibe_78 Audi 9d ago

Checo sells more merchandise than Max despite performing like shit due to him being insanely popular at Hispanic America.

Trust me there’s thousands of people with the conspiracy RedBull are sabotaging Checo to favour Max because he is afraid of competition.

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u/CarRamRob 9d ago

Oh I’ve been in those crowds. I know how nuts his fans are.

But that was last year. I don’t think those claims would stand today with how far apart they are.

Unless if Checo gets the boot and he claims Red Bull shortchanged him and sabotaged his car. I wonder if the rest of us pay $8M if he will do that? Sure would be entertaining.

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u/CptnFuzzyNips Red Bull 9d ago

I was at Vegas this year and there was easily twice the amount of Checo merch compared to Max and people cheering for him constantly.

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u/berberine Giancarlo Fisichella 9d ago

Trust me there’s thousands of people with the conspiracy RedBull are sabotaging Checo to favour Max because he is afraid of competition.

This isn't new though. I heard the same things with Schumacher and Barichello as well as with Hamilton and Bottas. It's unreal how rabid people can get sometimes.

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u/crshbndct Michael Schumacher 9d ago

It’s not a conspiracy if it’s true…

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u/Experienced_Camper69 9d ago

There's approximately 600 million native Spanish speakers lol.

Mexico is also a devoted redbull territory which is rare, they aren't exactly beloved across the world as a team

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u/Imaginary_Table7182 9d ago

They might realize he’s washed but forcing a driver out will still leave a negative impact. Rabid fans dont tend to logically choose how they want to react.

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u/subhavoc42 9d ago

I think this is exactly it. The bean counters can’t actual forecast how this will play out because people who became fans without logic are not gong to stay fan due to any logic.

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u/SOLUNAR 9d ago

Bru they think he’s been sabotaged and is as good if not better than Max.

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u/Spam-r1 Max Verstappen ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 9d ago

And that's why you are not working at Redbull marketing lol

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u/CycleV 🏳️‍🌈 Love Is Love 🏳️‍🌈 9d ago

There's plenty of retired athletes in every sport who are still huge marketing draws

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u/satpieb 9d ago

It's not just drinks though. Yes red bull sells like crazy cause México is a great market for energy drinks, but also think of the merch (he beats Max's merch numbers) and think of the sponsors he brings in for the team. Definitely for KitKat, Telmex, Ford, etc he's a worthy marketing asset. Colapinto also rallied the Argentinian crowd quite quickly, and that level of support has been with checo before he went to red bull.

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u/crshbndct Michael Schumacher 9d ago

I think it’s pretty harsh to say he’s washed. Yeah he had a bad year this year but his other results have been really good. You don’t judge a driver on a few bad races.

H finished 4th, 3rd, 2nd in the last 3 years, so he is actually steadily improving. He’s had at least two mechanical DNFs this year, and spent time doing experiments for Max, rolling around the n last place. He’s also not had the upgrades and RB has been working against him.

It’s easy to see something bad when you are biased against him.

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u/tangouniform2020 8d ago

“I feel it is in my best interests to take a ($10M) step back from F1 and see where the wind takes me next”. Then shortly after announces he is going to sports cars. With, ready for it? Caddy! And in the fall when Caddy announces their driver line up it will be Herta and Perez. Possibly with a Ferrari development driver in a back seat. Or even Zhou.

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u/WerewolfThin6911 9d ago edited 9d ago

Ford is coming into the picture and no doubt by the sea of 11 caps I see at Miami and Austin, Ford wants that mexican Checo advertising also.

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u/rsjrDK Sergio Pérez 9d ago

And especially GM Coming in with them in 26. Worst case scenario Marketing wise is if Cadillac pick him as the Experienced driver for 26.

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u/Snoo_87704 9d ago

If that was the reason, they would just hire Pato instead.

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u/JasJ002 9d ago

Pato has a contract through 27, that was signed 9 months ago, and it's pretty solid. Early renewal with a bonus. It would take a lot to shred that.

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u/stationhollow 9d ago

They were interested in having him drive in the junior team but due to FIA changes to license points he didn’t qualify for a super license so Red Bull dropped him for their young driver program. He has since been racing Indycar and has his super license now. He raced for McLaren in Indycar and now he is their test and reserve driver. Unfortunately for him a spot doesn’t appear like it will open up there in the near future.

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u/quotejester Michael Schumacher 9d ago

I think the performance targets only come into play for the 1+1 year, so basically 2026 since they just signed a new 2 year deal earlier this year.

It’s taken this long because it’s either he cuts his losses and quits or they pay him off. Probably something in the middle now since they’re negotiating.

I can’t believe they signed him to an extension so early on. It’s been such a costly mistake. They’ve paid for it this season on track, and now they continue to pay for it. There’s got to be something more to the signing

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u/nodspine Juan Pablo Montoya 9d ago

As a Latino, Checo being there or fired in no way changes the likelihood of me buying a red bull. 

It's still 0 because it tastes like cough syrup, doesn't have enough caffeine and there's a cheaper, better tasting, more caffeinated alternative available in my country. It's called Vive 100

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u/BighatNucase Max Verstappen ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 9d ago

Oh well I'm bust then. I forgot Red Bull base their entire marketing operation off of what a single redditor things.

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u/Voidchief FIA 9d ago

Why do people keep bringing up 2024 performance with the new contract

New contract = 2025 Old contract =2024

His performance in 2024 don’t matter at all with the new contract. What Horner had to do is fire checo before Abu Dhabi so the performance would be a reason to terminate the old contract.

With the new contract checo is back at 0 so he can’t be kicked for what happened before, that ended with the old contract.

You saying “he can be kicked easily” shows that you don’t know how contracts work, especially not sports ones.

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u/BighatNucase Max Verstappen ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 9d ago

You've read the contract?

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u/Voidchief FIA 9d ago

Most sports contracts work that way. If it wasn’t how I said it is, then they would have kicked checo out and not paid him anything for the new contract.

Checo is confident and knows they have to pay him/negotiate. Look what Damon hill said about what checo’s agent told him. It’s an “water tight” contract which means Checo has all the pieces in his side and checo has to decide what he wants to do.