Does Checo Pérez have any real chance of returning to F1?
Checo Pérez is off the grid for the 2025 season and his chances of returning at some point during the course of the calendar are very remote.
After 14 years in the Formula 1the Mexican Sergio Perez is off the grid for the season 2025 and his chances of returning at some point during the course of the calendar are very remote.
In case Czech Perez If he were interested in returning to F1, which, to begin with, depends on whether he likes the idea of getting into a cockpit again, it would have to happen due to some unexpected circumstance that also involved an attractive project for the driver.
In his most recent public appearance, which was at the León Fair, Checo Pérez said in a conversation with journalist Diego Mejía that he enjoys his family, friends and relaxation, after he was cut, unexpectedly, by the team. Red Bull.
Checo said that he will wait around six months to define what the next step will be in his professional career and that he would be open to returning to F1 if he was offered an interesting project.
Previously, in interviews still as a Red Bull driver, Pérez had said that he did not want to return to racing for a team or car where he would not have opportunities to compete ahead and that he had, at most, three more years left in the Maximum Category.
If we go team by team, in real possibilities, this is the outlook for the Guadalajara team.
McLaren
The team of Woking has one of the strongest driver line-ups in F1 with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastriand although the internal struggle suggests that this pair will not be able to remain on the same team for long, if the organization that commands a way out Zak Brown He has never shown interest in Checo Pérez, and he also has the Mexican as his reserve driver. Duck O’Ward. Discarded, totally.
Ferrari
With Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton like ruffles, Ferrari Not only does it have the most powerful couple on the grid but it also has a very strong investment in pursuit of the drivers’ and constructors’ championships.
Checo Pérez was once a Ferrari Academy driver, but today his profile does not fit, so he is 100 percent ruled out.
mercedes
Toto Wolff and mercedes They have a very interesting bet for 2025, on the one hand the experienced young George Russellwho is said to have the makings of a champion, but still has to prove it, and on the other, the biggest chance among the 20 F1 drivers, the youth debutant Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Antonelli’s talent, it is said, is something special, similar to what it was at the time Max Verstappen. At 18 years old, the Italian must be treated with patience, because he will surely make mistakes and have a learning curve, it is not a one-year project, but in case he ‘exploded’ very quickly, Wolff and Mercedes decided to hire as a reserve Valtteri Bottaswho already raced for the team from 2017 to 2021.
Here, Checo Pérez has no place either in 2025 or later.
Red Bull Racing
Checo Pérez could have been linked to Red Bull in 2025 as an “ambassador” of the brand, but he preferred that his contract be terminated so that he could listen to any external offer and be the owner of his time and future.
Pérez’s era at Red Bull is over, it was successful, but exhausting. Surely, in the future I will wear the team’s nomex again for a special event, as part of the organization’s history, but nothing more.
Aston Martin
Checo Pérez was already part of this team, when he was Racing Point and, in fact, his performance and decisions saved the team from disappearing. His relationship with the Strolls is very good and not to mention Adrian Neweya designer with whom he worked at Red Bull.
The problem is that the plans Lawrence Strollowner of the team, have been to have champion drivers such as Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso and why not? Max Verstappen in the future.
Much is said that if the Dutchman does not find guarantees in Red Bull to drive a car that competes for titles in 2026, he could leave them to look for that car elsewhere and that destination, in theory, could be Aston Martin.
The other seat has a name, but above all a surname: Lance Stroll and the only way I’ll leave him will be of his own free will.
Right now, Aston Martin is not an option for Checo Pérez.
Alpine
With the new leadership in the French squad under Oliver Oakes and Flavio BriatoreAlpine is willing to do anything to compete in F1 again, so much so that they have put aside Renault engines and will use Mercedes.
Not only that, Alpine has a very young lineup with Pierre Gasly as anchor and debutante Jack Doohan and the Australian is the weakest piece, obviously, so much so that Briatore has already hired the surprising Argentine Franco Colapinto as a reserve, it is not known if Doohan almost does not work or if he is already a singing replacement, no matter what happens.
Briatore believes that the current times in F1 belong to young people and a driver like Checo Pérez, almost 35 years old, a family man, does not fit into the profile that the controversial Italian described as the ideal Alpine driver.
Williams
Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon They are the duo that James Vowles has opted for at Williams, a team on the rise. Although the Spaniard is an established and proven talent, who is expected to help the growth of the team founded by Frank Williams, the Anglo-Thai Albon has left some doubts with a very irregular 2024, full of big crashes and where the arrival of Colapinto made him leave his comfort zone.
Even if Albon had a bad year, it seems very unlikely that Williams would decide to replace him in 2026, but a driver like Checo Pérez, who in addition to experience, great talent and development capacity, has the support of good sponsors, could be a virtuous castling , but almost impossible for it to happen in 2025.
haas
The American team will make a double change of drivers in 2025 with Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman. a veteran and a rookie.
There are high hopes that the young Englishman from the Ferrari school can have a bright future in F1, but you never know, especially with a rough teammate like Ocon.
Haas is a team that always seeks strong commercial and sporting alliances, so Checo Pérez could be an option for 2026, if things did not go well with Ocon and Bearman in 2025.
Sauber
Sauber is increasingly more Audi and less Sauber. The project started with a lot of momentum and, in the end, it took a long time to define its drivers, but they achieved a solid duo with the very veteran Nico Hulkenberg and the Brazilian rookie Gabriel Bortoletowho is preceded by consecutive titles in F3 and F2.
Audi wants a German and Hulkenberg has that spot or someone else will, while Bortoleto looks to make old bones in F1, based on his talent. There, Checo Pérez would have no chance.
Racing Bulls
The team once known as Toro Rosso, AlphaTauri and a thousand indefinite forms in 2024 is part of the Red Bull organization, as everyone knows, and if they decide to say goodbye to Yuki Tsunoda in 2025 or if the rookie Isaac Hadjar does not measure up, more young people from the Junior Team should be given a chance, although lately the cavalry of those led by Helmut Marko She is downright skinny.
In 2025 impossible and to think about a return of Checo Pérez in the style of Daniel Ricciardo It would be almost a soap opera, let’s rule it out beforehand.
cadillac
The team that will debut in F1 in 2026, a Trojan Horse that includes the entire Andretti organization, will put, unless something very strange happens, Colton Herta in one seat and for the second they want an experienced pilot.
Checo Pérez is a great magnet in the American market, with 14 years in the Maximum Category and a very good driver with six wins, three pole positions and a runner-up in the world championship, in addition to two in the constructors.
The problem is that if Checo Pérez wants to take six months off, it is highly unlikely that Cadillac can wait that long when it needs its 2026 driver to be working on the development of that car.
Marcus Ericsson has been recruited to work the simulator, since Andretti’s Indycar driver had a short stint in F1, but Cadillac needs someone who knows this generation of F1 cars.
Will Checo Pérez be mentally, physically and emotionally ready to take on a project that starts from scratch and where winning a point will be more than a victory in the first year?
There is a lot of time left, and while Checo Pérez enjoys his children on the beach, without any rush, his agent Julian Jakobi works to present him with the best options that, right now, there are none, but that can be opened so that the Mexican could eventually return to F1.
Today, the outlook is for Checo Pérez to spend at least a year out of F1, but this is a ruthless sport and anything can happen.
