Formula 1: New potential Sergio Perez replacement emerges for Red Bull

Just one day after the news broke that seven-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton would be leaving Mercedes after 12 seasons to join Ferrari in 2025, Red Bull have emerged as a major player in next year's silly season as well.

According to Peter Windsor, there is a "90%" chance that Red Bull have offered a three-year contract to Alex Albon, a deal which would start with the 2025 season.

Albon is set to contest his third season with Williams this year after spending a year out of the sport in 2021 following his departure from Red Bull at the end of 2020.

According to RBR Daily, Windsor has "close connection" with Williams.

Alex Albon to Red Bull in 2025?

Albon, who was called up from sister team Toro Rosso by Red Bull to replace Pierre Gasly as a rookie during the 2019 season, was replaced by Sergio Perez alongside Max Verstappen following a disappointing 2020 season. Now he is poised to replace the driver who replaced him, and at the same team where he was replaced.

The 27-year-old Thai-British driver has experienced a career resurgence at Williams, leading the team to their best finish in the constructor standings since 2017 last year on the strength of his own point total.

As for Perez, it has long been speculated that his contract would not be extended beyond the 2024 season after he struggled down the stretch in 2023.

After he and Verstappen split the season's first four races, Perez went winless while Verstappen won 17 of the final 18 events, including 10 in a row at one point -- and the final seven.

Perez only secured three runner-up finishes during that stretch, and while he still managed to place second in the final standings, his deficit to Verstappen ended up being bigger than his entire point total from the 22-race season.

Albon replacing Perez would eliminate him from being a candidate for Mercedes, where he was also rumored to be a possibility following Hamilton's departure, and it would also eliminate Visa Cash App RB driver Daniel Ricciardo from making the Red Bull return that he too had been aiming for.