Sergio Perez has finally addressed the rumors surrounding his possible sacking, after a string of poor performances over the last few weeks. While Alex Albon, Lando Norris, and Daniel Ricciardo are rumored to be his possible replacements, Perez claims that he is not concerned about any of them taking his seat away.
Perez had a strong start to the season, but since the Miami GP, his trajectory has kept going downwards. He failed to make it into Q3 for five consecutive races which is staggering considering the fact the Red Bull has the strongest car. Even though he is making up places in the race, Red Bull feels that the Mexican driver is making things difficult for himself and for them.
In Monaco, Perez crashed out of Q1, followed by a Q2 exit in Spain. From there on in he had two back-to-back Q2 exits in Canada and Austria respectively and in the end, another Q1 exit in the United Kingdom.
Despite these set backs, Perez is confident about his Red Bull stay as he publicly received support from the team bosses Christian Horner and Helmut Marko.. Hence, he is holding on to the hope.
Sergio Perez finally opened up on exit rumors
Sergio Perez’s exit rumors are taking the world of F1 by storm, but the Guadalajara-born driver is unbothered. Talking about this, Perez said to Crash.net, “Couldn’t care less.” Following this, he added as per Soy Motor, “I’ve been in Formula 1 for thirteen years and I’ve seen it all.”
However, the Mexican driver is also hopeful of making a much-needed comeback, which he believes is possible with the wholehearted support he gets from Red Bull. Admittedly, the 33-year-old also knows the particular areas where he needs to focus on.
Very tough day for us with the changing conditions.
Tomorrow’s a new day and we will fight right from the start to turn the weekend around!Día muy difícil para nosotros con las condiciones cambiantes. Mañana será otro día y como siempre pelearemos con todo para remontar y darle… pic.twitter.com/Udw1N3iOvo
— Sergio Pérez (@SChecoPerez) July 8, 2023
“I have become a bit more sensitive with the car in recent races. Especially on Saturdays, with low fuel, something that I am going to work on in the simulator with the team. We have an idea of what is happening to me in qualifying,” he further added.
Christian Horner and Helmut Marko in Perez’s support
Even though Helmut Marko assures that Perez is safe at the moment, he wants him to work on improving his qualifying performances. That being said, Marko does acknowledge that Perez’s race pace is good but also pointed out that things would be much easier for all of them if he started higher up the grid.
When one driver starts from P1 and the other from P16, it make things difficult for the team. But in the end, the former Racing Point driver delivers good race performances and for the time being there’s no one who can replace him, revealed Marko as per GP Fans.
Even though the situation at Red Bull is quite frustrating with Verstappen and Perez failing to fire together, Horner thinks putting Checo out of Red Bull is a bit “wide of the mark” according to ESPN. As things stand, Sergio Perez is safe at Red Bull until at least the 2024 F1 season, when his contract expires.