Perez open to leaving Red Bull if environment isn’t right

Sergio Perez has stated that he’s looking for an environment where he can contribute and will look outside Red Bull if necessary.

Perez and Red Bull have had an openly strained relationship at times, despite insistence by all parties that he will continue to drive for the team in 2024.

Ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix, Perez commented that he was open to looking outside of Red Bull if things weren’t the way he wanted them at the team.

“I also want to be in an environment in which I feel like I can contribute and if that place for 2024 isn’t here, we have to look for other alternatives,” he told DAZN in Spain.

It’s no secret that Red Bull holds Max Verstappen in the number one driver position, his teammate always relegated to playing backup.

It’s also no secret that 2023 has been a tough year for Perez, who had a run of bad qualifying results in the middle of the season and now sits well over 100 points shy of Verstappen in the driver’s standings.

There were rumours (as there always are) of Perez being replaced for 2024, but the team and Perez himself have confirmed that he’ll continue with Red Bull for 2024. But maybe now it’s not just a matter of Red Bull wanting to keep Perez, but Perez wanting to stay.

Feeling good in the car

Perez seemed on the fence about his future with Red Bull ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix, commenting: “For me, I’m staying here for another year and then we will see. It’s how I see things. I think we want to get through this year as competitively as possible, start next year.

“And I think early next year, we will have a clearer picture on what the team wants to do and what I want to do.”

When asked to clarify what the right enviroment would be at Red Bull, Perez answered: “Being able to deliver the results that you’ve got the car for. I feel like [there have been] times that this year I undershoot that. But like I always say, it only matters where you finish in Abu Dhabi. Up to then, we’ve been able to recover and have that consistency.

“All I’ve learned this year is that you cannot do anything on your own. You need the team around you, you need the team to support you and vice versa. As a driver, you have to believe and be fully committed to it.

“We’ve made a lot of progress to make me drive more naturally. So I’m definitely feeling that I’m going back to what I started in terms of how I was driving the car.”

Feature Image Credit: Clive Rose – Getty Images