Horner: At Red Bull we're happy with the driver pairing we have

This followed reports that the World Champion team were in talks with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz. While three-time F1 world champion Verstappen has a long-term contract with Red Bull until the end of 2028, veteran Perez is only contracted with the team until the end of this year.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday in Shanghai, Perez told reporters he hoped to be able to announce his plans for next season in the coming weeks, prompting questions at Friday's managers' press conference over whether that meant he would be leaving the Red Bull stable.

The energy drink brand's motorsport consultant Helmut Marko told Kleine Zeitung newspaper that Red Bull had been talking to Sainz about a drive but Audi had made him an offer that the Thai-Austrian company could not match.

Marko said: “If Perez maintains these performances, then he is certainly the best option for 2025 at Red Bull. He is a worker for the team and, has now also realised that the radically different path he took last year with the set-up was wrong. Now the car is closer to Max’s setup and that helps him."

Ahead of Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix, Horner told a press conference for F1 team managers: "We as a team aren't in a particular rush. We're in a fortunate position where many drivers would obviously like to drive for the team.

"We're happy with the pairing we have, we just want to make sure that the level of consistency that Checo started with this season is maintained," the Red Bull team boss added, echoing Marko.

In previous seasons, Perez has oftentimes struggled to get the same performance out of the Red Bull car as his teammate Verstappen, who won 19 out of 22 races last season.

However, he currently sits second in the 2024 F1 world championship, 13 points behind his teammate but only nine points ahead of Sainz, who missed an opportunity to score at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after contracting appendicitis.

Horner said on Friday that: "it's only natural that there's going to be significant interest (around Sainz), and I'm sure Audi would be foolish not to consider a driver of his quality."