Perez reveals when it became clear he was set to leave Red Bull F1

Sergio Perez has revealed the second it grew to become clear his Red Bull Racing exit was inevitable.

After becoming a member of the workforce in 2021, following earlier stints with Sauber, McLaren, Power India and Racing Level, Perez struggled to extract the identical stage of efficiency from the Pink Bull vehicles as his world champion team-mate Max Verstappen in 2023 and 2024.

Regardless of a disappointing stage of efficiency in 2023, he retained his contract into 2024. Nevertheless, because the workforce watched the constructors’ championship run away from it final yr as McLaren and Ferrari overtook the squad, doubts had been forged over the Mexican’s future with the workforce.

Speaking with F1.com, Perez revealed that it solely grew to become clear to him that his seat was in peril on the finish of November.

“The whole lot occurred actually late within the season,” he mentioned. “I wasn’t actually anticipating it to occur. It solely grew to become clearer as soon as we had been in Qatar, and we began to debate and negotiate my exit of the workforce. All of it occurred in a short time.”

Sergio Perez, Pink Bull Racing

Picture by: Erik Junius

Talking about his exit on the time, workforce principal Christian Horner mentioned: “Checo, he’s been a unbelievable member of this workforce. It’s been a tricky yr for him however he’s an important individual and naturally [he] performed such a key position within the ’21 drivers’ championship, ’22 and ’23 constructors’.

“He was second within the drivers’ world championship final yr, he’s received 5 grands prix in our vehicles. However he mirrored after the season and we sat down and mentioned it final week about what are the subsequent steps, and he’s determined that he’s going to take a little bit of trip.

“We’re unhappy to see him go away the workforce, however clearly it’s time for him to spend along with his younger household as properly and replicate on what he desires to do for the longer term.”

Pink Bull determined to interchange Perez earlier than his contract got here to its pure finish, which had been prolonged by 2025.

The Milton Keynes outfit evaluated RB, now Racing Bulls, pair Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda over the previous couple of races of the season and finally opted for the previous to take the coveted spot alongside Verstappen. 

Now, although, the workforce has changed Lawson after simply two disappointing grands prix and changed him with Tsunoda forward of his house race in Japan.