Sergio Perez to leave Red Bull F1 team as social media post comes back to haunt star

Sergio Perez looks set to be axed by Red Bull's F1 team - less than six months after signing an extended deal.

The Mexican has endured a tough season with Christian Horner's squad, sitting eighth in the standings - almost 300 points behind championship winning team Max Verstappen, with pressure mounting on Perez as his Red Bull team slumped to third in the constructors championship after Ferrari and McLaren enjoyed resurgent seasons. And ESPN is now reporting that Perez will lose his drive for 2025 after the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi, with RB driver Liam Lawson hotly tipped to team up with Verstappen ahead of the new season.

And a post on social media site X from the star on September 29 is now coming back to haunt Perez, who agreed an extended two year contract with the team taking him up until the end of 2026 in June. After facing intense speculation following a string of poor results, the Mexican posted an iconic clip of Leonardo DiCaprio from the 2013 film Wolf of Wall Street where he says: "I'm not leaving," with the caption "Sorry" and six laughing face emojis.

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And fans were quick to pounce on the tweet following heightened rumours of his departure, with one asking: "Do you want to rephrase that?" and another saying: "Does Checo have to tweet this again as a reminder or..."

On track it's been a season to forget for the 34-year-old who hasn't stood on the podium since China in April and is winless in the sport since the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in April of 2023. In the same timeframe his teammate Max Verstappen has won 26 races and two world championships with the same machinery.

Perez meanwhile has scored just eight points in the eight races since he made the post and endured a nightmare Qatar Grand Prix, with team boss Christian Horner cryptically saying: "I'm going to let Checo come to his own conclusions, nobody's forcing him one way or another. It's not a nice situation for him to obviously be in," when questioned on the future after his driver was forced to retire from the race with a clutch issue after 38 laps.