Simona Halep has withdrawn from Australian Open qualifying and will delay the start of her 2025 season after feeling pain in her knee and shoulder.

The former world number one, 33, received a wildcard from tournament organisers last week but said she felt discomfort after playing at the World Tennis League exhibition event in Abu Dhabi.

Halep was given a four-year doping ban that was reduced to nine months this year, and always maintained her innocence after being charged with two separate doping offences.

Now the former French Open and Wimbledon champion is trying to re-establish herself on tour, with injuries not helping her cause.

“After discussing with my team at length, we agreed it is sensible to delay the start of my season,” the Romanian wrote on Instagram.

She will also miss next week’s Auckland Classic, which is one of the main warm-up events for the Australian Open.

Halep, who was runner-up to Caroline Wozniacki at the 2018 Australian Open, is now ranked a lowly 877 in the world.

She said she will “rest up” and intends to return at her home event in Cluj, Romania in early February.

Qualifying for the Australian Open runs from 6-9 January and the opening Grand Slam of 2025 starts on 12 January.

Frenchman Isack Hadjar has been promoted to Red Bull’s second team to race alongside Japanese Yuki Tsunoda during the 2025 Formula 1 season.

The announcement fills the final seat on the 20-car F1 grid.

Hadjar is a replacement at the team that will now be known as Racing Bulls for Liam Lawson, who has been switched to Red Bull after they dropped Sergio Perez.

Hadjar, 20, finished second in Formula 2 last season to Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto, who will be racing for Audi-owned Sauber in F1 next year.

Racing Bulls team principal Laurent Mekies said: “Isack’s journey to F1has been nothing short of outstanding. He has shown remarkable growth, with a series of impressive results in the junior single-seater ranks.

“He has the talent and drive necessary to compete at the highest level, and we have every confidence that he will adapt quickly and make a significant impact. I believe Isack and Yuki will make a great team.”

Hadjar said: “The journey from karting through the ranks in single-seaters, to now being in F1 is the moment I’ve been working towards my whole life, it is the dream.

“I feel like I’m stepping into a whole new universe, driving a much faster car and racing with the best drivers in the world. It’ll be a huge learning curve, but I’m ready to work hard and do the best I can for the team.”

The announcement also effectively confirms a change in a way of referring to the team for next year.

Red Bull’s second team raced as RB in 2024 but the Lawson and Hadjar announcements this week have both referred to them as Racing Bulls.

The initials RB were short for Racing Bulls, and were used because the company felt that the full team name including its title sponsor, a credit card company, was too wordy.

But the team’s email addresses all used the name Racing Bulls this year, and now Red Bull has decided the original name will be used after all.

Racing Bulls chief executive officer Peter Bayer said last month: “The only question throughout the year was: ‘What does RB mean, what does RB mean? Now we’re making it official: RB means Racing Bulls.”

The new name was reflected on the official FIA F1 2025 entry list,, external which was published last week.

Sergio Perez is to leave Red Bull two years before the end of his contract after reaching a termination agreement with the team.

The move comes after a weak season for the Mexican, who failed to win a race and finished on the podium only four times as team-mate Max Verstappen won his fourth world title.

Perez, who has essentially been sacked, said: “I’m incredibly grateful for the past four years with Red Bull Racing and for the opportunity to race with such an amazing team.

“Driving for Red Bull has been an unforgettable experience and I’ll always cherish the successes we achieved together.”

Perez, 34, is expected to be replaced by 22-year-old New Zealander Liam Lawson, in a promotion from the sister Racing Bulls team.

Lawson, who drove six races at the end of 2024 and five during 2023, is said to have been told he would be promoted before the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Frenchman Isack Hadjar, who finished second in Formula 2 this season, is expected to join Racing Bulls alongside Japanese Yuki Tsunoda, who has been overlooked by Red Bull for a seat in the senior team.

In Abu Dhabi, Perez expressed his concern for an inexperienced driver being put in alongside Verstappen.

“Being team-mates with Max at Red Bull as a young driver, I wouldn’t like to be in those shoes, if I’m honest,” Perez said.

“People cannot underestimate the level of challenge that there is in this seat.”

Although Red Bull had already decided to ditch Perez, he was reluctant to leave and his management sought the best possible compensation agreement before acquiescing.

The team said “announcements regarding the team’s full 2025 line-up will be made in due course”.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner added: “I would like to thank Checo [Perez] for all he has done for Red Bull Racing over the past four seasons.

“From the moment he joined in 2021 he proved himself to be an extraordinary team player, helping us to two constructors’ titles and to our first one-two finish in the drivers’ championship.

“While Checo will not race for the team next season, he will always be an extremely popular team member and a treasured part of our history.”

“It’s been an absolute pleasure driving alongside you,” Verstappen posted on social media.

“We’ve had some amazing moments together that I’ll always remember.”

Red Bull’s decision to drop Perez raises questions about the decision-making of Horner, who made the decision in May to sign him until the end of 2026.

The move came at the start of a slump in form from Perez – which echoed a similar decline in 2023 – and Horner said the intention was to allow him to recover his confidence.

But Perez’s performances did not improve. He took his final podium in the fifth race of the season in China and after finishing fourth at the following race in Miami, his best result was a sixth place in the Netherlands.

His one highlight for the remainder of the season was a strong performance in Azerbaijan, where he was on course for a podium finish before a late crash with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.

Perez’s inability to get close to Verstappen’s performances was a significant factor in Red Bull losing the constructors’ championship.

They finished third behind McLaren and Ferrari, despite Verstappen’s nine victories. McLaren took six wins between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Ferrari five with Charles Leclerc and Sainz.

Horner re-signed Perez – giving him a two-year extension that seemed inexplicable to many in F1 – rather than taking Sainz, who is being replaced at Ferrari next season by Lewis Hamilton.

The basis for the decision was the tension that existed between the Verstappen and Sainz camps when the drivers were paired at Red Bull’s junior team in 2015 and early 2016.

But Verstappen’s father Jos Verstappen said he had never expressed a preference for Sainz not to rejoin Red Bull.

Perez took five victories for Red Bull, one in 2021, and two each in 2022 and 2023, but was able to get close to Verstappen only for the first four races of 2023.

However, he was instrumental in Verstappen winning his first world title in 2021.

His aggressive defence against Hamilton at the season finale in Abu Dhabi allowed Verstappen to close back up to the seven-time champion in the middle of the race.

That meant when the decisive late safety-car period happened, Hamilton did not have a sufficient gap to pit for fresh tyres while also retaining the race lead, which he likely would have had Perez not blocked him for so long.

That meant he was vulnerable to Verstappen, who did stop for fresh rubber.

Race director Michael Masi started the race for one final lap, having ignored the rules governing a safety car period in two different ways, and Verstappen, on fresh tyres, was able to pass Hamilton, ensuring he rather than the Mercedes driver won the championship.