Red Bull boss Christian Horner suggests that Sergio Perez is on the verge of making his own decision on his future.

Just as you thought it couldn't get any worse for the Mexican he manages to outdo himself, in terms of being overtaken at the start of Saturday's Sprint by Franco Colapinto... while in the pitlane!

No further action was taken in terms of the allegation of "dangerous driving" on Sunday - having appeared to drive directly across the track at right angles to the oncoming traffic after spinning - but nonetheless it was another weekend to forget for the Mexican.

The final Sprint weekend of the year saw him fail to score a single point, finishing last on Saturday and retiring from yesterday's race whilst running fifth.

Week after week Horner is asked the same questions about the Mexican's future, but this time he appeared to be hinting that rather than Red Bull making the decision, Perez himself will make the call.

"I'm going to let Checo come to his own conclusions, nobody's forcing him one way or another," said the Briton. "It's not a nice situation for him to obviously be in," he added.

After agreeing a new two-year deal in June, the Mexican's form immediately took a dip and it was widely thought he would be dropped over the summer break.

While he was retained his form went from bad to worse, and as a result Red Bull had slipped to third in the team standings despite teammate Max Verstappen winning hisd fourth successive title.

"Look, Checo has had a very tough year," said Horner. "Obviously the points table are what they are. We're very much focused on really supporting him to the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi, and then obviously it's not an enjoyable situation for Checo, being in this position with speculation every week.

"He's old enough and wise enough to know what the situation is, and yeah, let's see where we are after Abu Dhabi."

Asked if the team would force the Mexican's hand - having only a week ago insisted that he would be driving for Red Bull Racing in 2025 - Horner said: "Let's get to the end of Abu Dhabi and see where we're at."

Check out our Sunday gallery from Qatar here.