Red Bull Racing is yet to confirm who will partner Max Verstappen at the team next year with Perez in the final year of his current contract.

The Mexican is performing well and in strong contention to retain the drive, though is not the only driver in play.

Carlos Sainz is a free agent after Ferrari opted to replace the Spaniard with Lewis Hamilton next season while Yuki Tsunoda has also made a good account of himself.

Daniel Ricciardo has also made no secret of his desire to return to the Milton Keynes operation, while a myriad of other drivers are also on the market.

“Certainly, things are moving along,” Perez said.

“I think how the whole market is. We’re going to be making decisions fairly quickly.

“In the coming weeks, I expect everything to be… to know my future in the coming weeks.

“Everything is going fast, so I think it’s important not to wait for too long.”

Perez has been in good form of late. He sits second in the drivers’ championship with four podiums from the five races thus far, plus a third in the Sprint in China.

“Of course, he would like to make an announcement tomorrow, undoubtedly. But we as a team aren’t in a particular rush,” Horner countered.

“We’re in a fortunate position where many drivers would obviously like to drive for the team, but we’re happy with the pairing that we have.

“We just want to make sure that the level of consistency that Checo has started with this season maintains, and in due course, we’ll evaluate those options.

“But, as I say, at this point in time, we’re very happy with the line-up that we have, so there’s no imminent rush to announce the full driver line-up for 2025.”

While Perez is seemingly in the box seat given his current form, Sainz is the only man to have beaten Red Bull Racing in a grand prix since the 2022 Sao Paulo Grand Prix having been victorious in Singapore last year and Australia in 2024.

The Spaniard has been linked with both Red Bull and Audi, which will take full ownership of Sauber ahead of its factory entry into the championship for 2026.

“We have no idea if and what Audi have offered Carlos, who’s a key driver that’s on the open market,” Horner claimed amid speculation it was a significant figure.

“It’s only natural that there’s going to be significant interest and I’m sure Audi would be foolish not to consider a driver of his quality amongst others that have seats available.”

Horner added that Perez has been delivering the job needed of him thus far after slumping during 2023.

The Mexican driver started last year strongly but faded from the Miami Grand Prix.

He only secured second in the drivers’ championship at the penultimate round of the year despite Red Bull having by far the most dominant car.

“He’s worked hard over the winter,” Horner said of Perez’s current form.

“He’s come in with a change, perhaps, slightly to his approach to grand prix weekends and he’s been very close in the four races so far this season, particularly at a track like Suzuka where last year he struggled quite a bit, but certainly this year he was very competitive.

“He’s put a lot of a lot of hours in on the sim and his approach going into a grand prix weekend and set-up and so on has converged with his team-mate,” Horner added.

“So, he’s applying himself well and has driven some good races so far this year.”