Sergio Perez has signed to race for Red Bull alongside Max Verstappen in 2021.
The 30-year-old Mexican, who took his maiden Formula 1 win in the Sakhir Grand Prix this month, replaces British-Thai Alex Albon, who will stay with the team as reserve driver.
Red Bull decided Albon had not performed strongly enough in his 18 months with the team to justify continuing in a race seat.
Perez was preferred over another experienced candidate, Nico Hulkenberg.
It is Perez’s first chance in a genuine front-running car in a decade-long F1 career.
He was in danger of losing his seat in the sport following Racing Point’s decision to sign four-time champion Sebastian Vettel on a three-year deal from 2021 to partner Lance Stroll, son of team owner Lawrence Stroll.
The Red Bull seat offered him a lifeline which many will feel his performances this season justified.
Perez missed two races in the summer after contracting coronavirus but still finished fourth in the drivers’ championship behind Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, plus Verstappen.
His victory in Bahrain came after an outstanding drive in which he was last on the first lap after being crashed into by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, but fought his way back through the field before benefiting from problems that took out the Mercedes of George Russell, substituting for Hamilton, and Bottas.
He also scored a second place in the rain-hit Turkish Grand Prix in November.
Perez made his F1 debut for Sauber 2011, taking a second place for the team at the 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix. His performances there earned him a place at McLaren for 2013, but the team were beginning a competitive decline and he was dropped after one year, partly as a result of a political fight between chairman Ron Dennis and managing director Martin Whitmarsh.
Perez joined what was then called Force India in 2014 and had stayed there ever since, and was instrumental in forcing the administration process that ousted former owner Vijay Mallya and allowed Stroll to buy the team.
Despite driving for midfield teams his entire career, Perez has scored a podium in six of his nine seasons in F1.
Red Bull gave Albon every opportunity to justify them keeping him in the seat, but the team were not convinced.
He was out-qualified by Verstappen at every single race in 2020, and was on average 0.523 seconds a lap slower.
In races, while Verstappen took two wins and nine other podiums finishes in 17 races, Albon’s best results were two third places in the Tuscan and Bahrain Grands Prix.
He also spun when contending for strong finishes at the Emilia Romagna and Turkish races.
