What Sergio Perez said on Red Bull future after big drop to P7 at Belgian Grand Prix

Sergio Perez’s future with Red Bull Racing was said to depend heavily on the Belgian GP.

The Belgian Grand Prix had been pegged as the critical race set to determine Sergio Perez’s future with Red Bull Racing — and the Mexican racer rocketed down the finishing order after starting second. 

Sergio Perez’s future has been in doubt ever since he signed a contract extension with Red Bull Racing — but after a disappointing conclusion to the Belgian Grand Prix, the Mexican driver still asserts his confidence that he’ll remain with the team come Zandvoort.

Sergio Perez: “I will not answer any more questions” about future

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Sergio Perez started from second on the grid heading into the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix, but the Mexican driver’s race quickly fell apart.

“It was a very disappointing race,” Perez told assembled media, including PlanetF1.com, after the Belgian Grand Prix.

“I will say I was just struggling a lot in the race. I don’t know what was going on.

“But had to save battery early on in the first couple of laps, and it was just very weak on the straights. Once I managed to clear it, charge it back a bit, I was pretty much the same as Lewis and Charles. I was staying there.”

However, the race continued to fall apart.

“But then the second stint, jumping onto the medium tire with all the traffic behind, it just made it really, really difficult. Very tricky,” Perez said.

“We did quite a shorter stint as well. We were just out of sync, I think.

“We were just not good with tires today. Balance wasn’t there as well.

“Plenty of things to analyze on our side.”

The trouble saw Perez drop down the running order throughout the race. In the closing laps, the Mexican driver was called into the pits in order to swap to soft tires and attempt to set the fastest lap and gain that crucial extra point — but it was small consolation for an overall challenging event.

“There are plenty of things we need to analyze,” Perez admitted. “I think Mercedes’ pace was very impressive. We couldn’t match the Ferraris either.

“I don’t know why we went so short. I think we were obviously very compromised by having just two sets of mediums.

“So I again, I think it was not a perfect execution.

“It’s something that we will get together as a team and obviously understand and learn from it.”

Red Bull’s history with mid-season driver swaps:

 All the mid-season driver swaps Red Bull have made in their F1 history

Red Bull’s 2025 shortlist: Six drivers who should be on list to partner Max Verstappen

But there is already allegedly a meeting on the books heading into this summer break: A meeting about Perez’s future with the team.

In pre-race media availability, Perez confirmed to media that he was “100%” sure he would remain a driver with Red Bull Racing when the Formula 1 season reconvenes at Zandvoort in late August — and Perez doubled down on that sentiment after the Belgian Grand Prix as well.

When asked if he was confident he’d remain at Red Bull, the Mexican driver responded, “Correct.”

“Yesterday I had a good qualifying, a good day. It doesn’t change anything,” Perez elaborated.

“I think we have too much going on in the team — a lot of things that we have to focus on, and we cannot waste any energy with all this speculation around it.

“So this is the last time I will speak about the future. To make it clear for everyone, I will not be speaking anymore.

“I will not answer any more questions on the future.”

Is Perez’s confidence justified? We won’t have a definitive answer until Red Bull Racing itself makes a statement on the future of Max Verstappen’s teammate — but Perez certainly seems assured that he’ll finish out the season in an RB20.

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