Another year, another Red Bull driver exits the team and indeed F1. Max Verstappen's last three teammates have all left the sport without having a new team to got to as the Dutchman is proving to be somewhat of a teammate career killer.

Although Perez' stint at Red Bull saw him play a definitive role in Verstappen's first title, winning in Azerbaijan and holding Lewis Hamilton back in the Abu Dhabi finale in 2021, the Mexican's form spiralled before being shown the door at the end of the 2024 season where he finished a lowly eighth in the standings.

Many paddock insiders believe Perez's undoing was a consequence of Red Bull's direction of development, as the team sought to provide a car that favoured Verstappen's driving style and did not suit that of Perez, who will return to F1 next season driving for the new Cadillac team.

Given the relentless front-end grip quest Verstappen's unique driving style needs forces Red Bull on, rear stability is reduced, something most F1 drivers desperately need in order to have the necessary confidence to extract the maximum amount of lap time. This trait, coupled with the increased driving difficulties inherent to these ground-effect cars, stands as the core reason behing Perez' performance slope and his Red Bull downfall.

In 2023, Red Bull held an immense advantage over the other teams, which helped disguise the Mexican's form. However, in 2024 with the team losing its technical superiority, McLaren's surge, and Mercedes and Ferrari making strides, the field at the top converged, bringing Perez' struggles to the fore.

After a full season on facing criticism in the media, and even at the hand of fellow F1 drivers, Perez was shown the door by Red Bull after last year's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Liam Lawson's addition to the Red Bull fold was hoped would represent the longed-for change, that they could finally have two drivers competing consistently at the front. Nothing could have been further away from reality, though.

The New Zealander was retained for only two Grands Prix weekends before being bumped down to Racing Bulls in favour of Tsunoda, who in turn only scored 30 points for the Austrian outfit across 21 race weekends.

The Japanese driver's form at Red Bull, registering only six Q3 appearances and seven bottom five exclusions, began to be heavily questioned, putting Tsunoda in the spotlight, just as much as Perez had been in the second half of his tenure at the Austrian squad. Furthermore, the Japanese driver's outspoken comments bore a striking similarity to Perez' complaints.

Reflecting on the Mexican's time at Red Bull, one can't help but think that the six-time Grand Prix winner might have been right all along. Had the Austrian team heeded Perez' development feedback, could he have retained his seat for 2025? If so, could Perez have played a more significant role than Tsunoda did in the title charge Verstappen led during the second half of the F1 2025 season against Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri? We will never know.

As Red Bull now looks to Isack Hadjar with hopes he can muscle the Red Bull car with enough confidence to push Verstappen and the team forward as of next year, Perez is preparing to make a grand F1 comeback spear-heading Cadillac's F1 entry for the 2026 season, which the Mexican has described as the last big F1 project he will undertake in his already long career in the sport.

A swan-song F1 stint that provides him with a shot a redemption, as well as the chance to prove his critics - and his previous employer's decision to axe him - wrong.

Perez referenced his famed 2021 Abu Dhabi GP defense against Lewis Hamilton - which earned him the monicker Minister of Defence - after Tsunoda’s unsuccessful fend-off attempt against Lando Norris on the same track. Read the full story here.

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