Sergio Perez insists he won’t be replaced before the end of his recently-signed contract that runs until the end of the 2025 season, despite speculation over his future heading into the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Red Bull confirmed Perez had signed a new two-year contract extension after the Monaco Grand Prix at the end of May, but since then he has scored just 11 points as part of a run of 15 points in six races since the start of the European season. Recent comments from team principal Christian Horner have suggested Red Bull wants to see an upturn in performance and results over the next two races, but Perez says his situation is unchanged and that he will retain his seat.
“Nothing new,” Perez said. “It’s another two races for us that we want to go back to our top form. That’s the main priority for me, for the team. I was back in the factory over the week and that is the main priority for us to get back to the form we had a couple of races ago. That’s really it.
“There’s nothing related to [a summer break deadline on contract clauses]. Obviously I cannot talk about my contract. What I said was the next two races are important for me. I want to go on holiday with a good spirit and I think it’s good for my side of the garage to go with a good spirit. I wasn’t talking about anything else.
“I’m fully focused to fully deliver. I will be here and here again next year and that’s nothing different. I’m just fully committed to myself.”
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Despite his defiance, Perez says he needs to take the majority of the blame for recent results, even if he feels that outside factors have also played a part in his form.
“Well, I haven’t been performing, first of all, at 100% in the circumstances when you put yourself in difficult positions. I take a lot of responsibility for that,” he said. “Obviously there’s been a lot of circumstances as well with different sorts of races, so I think it’s a little bit of everything when you are in this vicious circle.
“We had a really strong Friday but then I messed up at Silverstone in qualifying. Then with the strategy we just throw the dice and see what happened and it didn’t work for us. The main thing is I’ve been in this business too long and I know it will only matter where I finish in Abu Dhabi. So let’s ride the roller coaster and hopefully get back on form very soon.”
The 34-year-old says the pressure and scrutiny he is under is part of the challenge of racing for Red Bull that he relishes, rather than struggles with.
“It’s difficult to shut down the external noise but at the end of the day I come here to get my very best, my maximum effort and when I’m here, when I’m at home training or at home in the simulator, I focus on the important stuff.
“At the end of the day the noise, I think it’s a lot bigger when you’re at Red Bull. But it’s the beauty of this challenge. It’s why I decided to sign and extend my contract with this team, because I love the challenge. It’s really hard but it takes absolutely everything out of you and that’s why I wanted to continue here.”