Formula 1: Possible Red Bull replacement ruled out for 2025

Red Bull's Formula 1 future has been the subject of quite a bit of speculation to start the 2024 season.

Sergio Perez is in a contract year after struggling throughout the back half of the 2023 season, and while three-time reigning world champion Max Verstappen remains under contract through 2028, reports of tension within the organization regarding how the accusations against team principal Christian Horner were handled led to questions about the Dutchman's future.

All things considered, the sport's most dominant team of the last three seasons faced the slight possibility of having an entirely new driver lineup next year. But now one driver who had been rumored as a potential replacement is officially off the table as the 2025 lineup continues to take shape.

Fernando Alonso re-signs with Aston Martin

Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso made the surprising decision to leave Alpine after the 2022 season to join Aston Martin as the replacement for the four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel. He ended up recorded eight podium finishes, including three runner-up finishes, en route to a fourth place finish in the driver standings, his best since 2013.

Aston Martin's performance dropped off over the course of the back half of the 2023 season, but they have started off the 2024 season relatively strong, with Alonso sitting in eighth place in the driver standings without a finish lower than ninth through four races.

Now the 42-year-old Spaniard, who had been linked to both Red Bull and Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes seat for 2025, has officially extended his stay with Lawrence Stroll's team, signing a multi-year contract extension that runs through at least the 2026 season, when the sweeping new regulations are slated to go into effect.

Alonso was reported to have had been made an offer to drive for Red Bull.

As for the future of Red Bull's current lineup, Verstappen himself has not given any indication that he actually plans to leave the team, and Perez has started the season about as well as could have been expected, leading to the suggestion that perhaps the Milton Keynes-based team need not fix what isn't broken.

Last year, when Verstappen won 17 times in 18 races, Perez only recorded three runner-up finishes. He already has three runner-up finishes behind his teammate through four races this year.