Making his first public appearance since his departure from Red Bull, Sergio Perez reckons that he will use the next six months to evaluate his options and opportunities for the future.
After months of speculation, Red Bull confirmed after the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that Sergio Perez would leave the Austro-British outfit despite the deal that would have seen the 34-year-old driver race for the team until the end of 2026.
The Guadalajara-born driver joined Red Bull in 2021, and helped his team-mate Max Verstappen win his first championship title that year, playing a pivotal role at the title-deciding 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
However, he has failed to deliver a consistent performance over the last couple of years. Perez has won five races with Red Bull, and finished second in the Drivers’ Championship last year, but he has endured periods during which he simply struggled for outright pace in qualifying.
After a strong start to the 2024 season, Red Bull had elected to extend his contract by a further two years which would see Perez race for the Milton Keynes-based outfit until at least the end of the 2026 F1 season. However, the Mexican struggled for pace after his contract extension.
Perez made his first public appearance since his departure from Red Bull at the Feria de Leon event in the Mexican state of state of Guanajuato. The Mexican reckons that he will now use the next six months to find out what he wants to do in the future.
“In the next six months I will make a decision on what’s next for my career. I am totally happy, and I will return to Formula 1 if that is what makes me happiest.”
Perez insisted that he has already faced a series of setbacks during his career, and he has always managed to find the right step that moved him forward. The Guadalajara-born racer now wants to enjoy his time with his family before committing himself to a new project.
“The important thing is that I never gave up. Whenever something difficult happened in my career better things came and that was because I never gave up.
The six-time F1 race winner continued: “I’m very excited about what’s to come this year and I’m very calm and very happy.
“I am really enjoying my children, my family, my friends. I am finally going to travel, because in these years I travelled all over the world, but without knowing it”.
