Formula 1 team Red Bull has dropped Sergio Perez after months of poor results.
Perez has not won a race since April 2023, even as his teammate Max Verstappen has dominated F1, and the 34-year-old Mexican was rarely competitive this season.
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FILE - Red Bull driver Sergio Perez (11) waits for the Formula One Miami Grand Prix auto race to begin at the Miami International Autodrome, Sunday, May 7, 2023, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
FILE - Red Bull Racing driver Sergio Perez, of Mexico, sits in his car during the first practice session at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, Friday, June 16, 2023. (Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
FILE - Red Bull driver Sergio Perez, of Mexico, waits in the garage area prior to a practice session for the Formula One U.S. Grand Prix auto race, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)
FILE- Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands, right, who clocked the fastest time, speaks with Red Bull driver Sergio Perez of Mexico , who clocked the third fastest time during qualification ahead of the Formula One Grand Prix at the Spa-Francorchamps racetrack in Spa, Belgium, Saturday, July 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File0
FILE - Red Bull driver Sergio Perez of Mexico waits for the safety car after race was stopped during the Formula One Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jiddah, Sunday, Dec. 5, 2021. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)
FILE - Red Bull driver Sergio Perez of Mexico arrives in the paddock before of the third free practice ahead of Sunday's Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix auto race, at the Hungaroring racetrack in Mogyorod, near Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, July 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos, File)
Red Bull driver Sergio Perez of Mexico arrives for the practice ahead of the Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Red Bull announced the move Wednesday, terminating Perez's contract two years early, and said a replacement will be announced “in due course.”
Nicknamed “Checo,” Perez started the 2024 season with four podium finishes from the first five races, but he wasn't in the top three since. His last race finish higher than sixth was in May. Verstappen won nine races and his fourth consecutive title this year.
The last time there was such a gulf in results between an F1 champion and the team’s other driver in F1 was in 1994, when Verstappen’s father Jos was dropped before the end of the season as Michael Schumacher won the title with Benetton.
“Driving for Red Bull has been an unforgettable experience and I’ll always cherish the successes we achieved together,” Perez said in a team statement.
“We broke records, reached remarkable milestones, and I’ve had the privilege of meeting so many incredible people along the way," he added. "A special thank you to the fans around the world, and especially to the Mexican fans for your unwavering support every day. We’ll meet again soon. And remember… Never give up."
Perez was once nicknamed the “Mexican Minister of Defense” for his support to Verstappen in their first year as teammates in 2021, when he held up rivals and allowed Verstappen to get away. This year, they’ve typically been so far apart on the track that Perez wasn’t able to provide any meaningful help.
Red Bull publicly kept faith with Perez, even handing him a contract extension through 2026 in June, but performances didn’t improve. Red Bull had been trying to settle Perez with that extension but it “obviously didn’t work," team principal Christian Horner said this month.
On Wednesday, Horner called Perez an “extraordinary team player."
“His five wins, all on street circuits, were also a spectacular mark of his determination to always push to the limit,” Horner added.
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FILE - Red Bull driver Sergio Perez (11) waits for the Formula One Miami Grand Prix auto race to begin at the Miami International Autodrome, Sunday, May 7, 2023, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
FILE - Red Bull Racing driver Sergio Perez, of Mexico, sits in his car during the first practice session at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, Friday, June 16, 2023. (Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
FILE - Red Bull driver Sergio Perez, of Mexico, waits in the garage area prior to a practice session for the Formula One U.S. Grand Prix auto race, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)
FILE- Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands, right, who clocked the fastest time, speaks with Red Bull driver Sergio Perez of Mexico , who clocked the third fastest time during qualification ahead of the Formula One Grand Prix at the Spa-Francorchamps racetrack in Spa, Belgium, Saturday, July 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File0
FILE - Red Bull driver Sergio Perez of Mexico waits for the safety car after race was stopped during the Formula One Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jiddah, Sunday, Dec. 5, 2021. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)
FILE - Red Bull driver Sergio Perez of Mexico arrives in the paddock before of the third free practice ahead of Sunday's Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix auto race, at the Hungaroring racetrack in Mogyorod, near Budapest, Hungary, Saturday, July 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos, File)
Red Bull driver Sergio Perez of Mexico arrives for the practice ahead of the Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani authorities on Wednesday postponed a polio vaccination campaign in the country's restive southern Balochistan province after health workers boycotted it to oppose a proposed privatization of hospitals.
Authorities on Monday launched the final nationwide polio vaccination campaign for the year, aiming to protect 45 million children. According to the World Health Organization, Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan remain the only two countries where the potentially fatal, paralyzing virus has not been eradicated.
Anwarul Haq of the National Emergency Operation Center for Polio Eradication said the polio vaccination campaign in Balochistan was delayed until Dec. 30 for “better preparedness." He provided no further details.
However, other health and government officials said the campaign in Balochistan was postponed after health workers refused to join it and demanded that the government stop plans to privatize state-run hospitals where they work.
Representatives of health workers have also urged the government not to employ unqualified workers to carry out the campaign.
Restive Balochistan has reported the highest number of polio cases, with 26 out of the nationwide 63 confirmed cases since January. The campaign continues until Dec. 22 in other areas in Pakistan.
Pakistan regularly launches campaigns against polio despite attacks on the workers and police assigned to the inoculation drives. Militants falsely claim that vaccination campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.
More than 200 polio workers and police assigned for their protection have been killed since the 1990s, according to health officials and authorities.
On another front, Pakistan is currently also fighting militants across the country.
On Wednesday, security forces in three different operations in the restive northwest killed eleven insurgents, the military said in a statement. It provided no further details and described the slain men as “khwarij” — a term the government uses for Pakistani Taliban, who are known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP. While the TTP is an ally of the Afghan Taliban who seized power in Afghanistan in 2021, it’s a separate group.
A police officer stands guard as a health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)
A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child at a slum area in Lahore, Pakistan, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)