LUSAIL, Qatar -- Sergio Pérez's Red Bull future looks increasingly in doubt beyond the end of this season after team principal Christian Horner said the driver is "old enough and wise enough to know what the situation is."
After Pérez failed to score a point for the sixth time this season at Sunday's Qatar Grand Prix, Horner was asked if the Mexican had a future at Red Bull beyond the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi.
"I'm going to let Checo [Pérez] come to his own conclusions, nobody's forcing him one way or another," the Red Bull team principal said. "It's not a nice situation for him to obviously be in."
The Mexican driver has scored 152 points compared to teammate Max Verstappen's 429 this season, contributing to Red Bull's failure to retain the constructors' championship.
Despite signing a two-year contract extension in June, Pérez's future at Red Bull has looked in doubt throughout the second-half of the season.
"Look, Checo has had a very tough year," Horner added. "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 he would have to force Pérez's decision if the Mexican chose to stay after next weekend's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Horner said: "Let's get to the end of Abu Dhabi and see where we're at."
Pérez retired from the Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday after a spin under the safety car and a clutch failure.
He was investigated by the stewards after the race for attempting to rejoin in a dangerous manner, but it was determined his clutch failure, which happened after the spin, left him in a dangerous position and therefore took no further action.
"Car 11 [Pérez] spun and stopped sideways on the right hand side of the track," the stewards' statement said. "The driver then appeared to drive directly across the track at right angles to the oncoming traffic.
"However, the evidence tabled showed that the driver attempted to do a rapid 90 degree clockwise spin but in doing so, experienced clutch failure which resulted in the car travelling across the track.
"Whilst this appeared potentially dangerous from the video, the attempted move by the driver was possible to execute under normal circumstances and only the failure of the clutch caused the reported incident."