F1 News: Sergio Perez Retaliates Against Red Bull Exit Rumors As Pressure Mounts

Despite recent setbacks, Sergio Perez confidently dismisses rumors of leaving Red Bull Racing.

Oct 19, 2024; Austin, Texas, USA; Oracle Red Bull Racing driver Sergio Perez (11) of Team Mexico waves to the crowd during a fan forum before the Sprint Race in the 2024 Formula One US Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Sergio Perez has retaliated once again against speculations regarding his tenure with Red Bull Racing. Following a turbulent performance this season and most recently at the Mexico City Grand Prix, rumors began circulating about his potential exit from the team.

Red Bull's team principal Christian Horner has hinted that team roles, including Perez’s, might need reevaluation due to the dip in his results. Horner commented, as reported by Formula1.com:

“As a team, we need to have both cars scoring points and that’s the nature of F1. From the team’s perspective, we’re working with him as hard as we can to try and support.

“I think we’ve done everything that we can to support Checo, and we’ll continue to do so in Brazil next weekend, but there comes a point in time that you can only do so much.”

Perez, however, responded with confidence, stating to the media ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix:

“No, not at all. It’s just rumours, at the end of the day.

“You will see me in Vegas, you will see me next year. I’m not the one that worries about it.”

Perez's recent race in Mexico posed significant challenges. Starting from 18th on the grid and incurring a five-second penalty at the outset marked the beginning of a difficult event. A collision with VCARB driver Liam Lawson added to his woes, damaging his RB20 and resulting in finishing 17th. Whilst reflecting on the heated battle with Lawson, Perez added:

“What happened, it’s in the past. We move on, and we take those first 10 laps as a hope. We understood what happened in qualifying, we saw issues, we tried to fix it for Sunday, and I think we went in the right direction so that’s definitely promising.”

He concluded:

“We understood a lot of the issues we had in Mexico, on my side when you look at my first 10 laps of Mexico they were looking good and competitive,” he reiterated. “But we definitely have to find [something] – when you look at the pace from McLaren and Ferrari, they seem to be in another level in the last two races.

“I really hope that we can be in the mix here. We understood a few of the issues, but it’s just not very clear how we’re going to solve them. It’s a different track, the altitude probably had a bigger impact on us [in Mexico], so we’ll see. I think tomorrow we will have a pretty good idea on where we are.”

2024 F1 Constructors' Championship: Current Standings

1. McLaren - 566 points
2. Ferrari - 537 points
3. Red Bull - 512 points
4. Mercedes - 366 poitns
5. Aston Martin - 86 points
6. Haas - 46 points
7. VCARB - 36 points
8. Williams - 17 points
9. Alpine - 14 points
10. Sauber - 0 points