Sergio Perez makes ‘worse’ claim about Red Bull driver treatment

Sergio Perez with his visor raised, sitting in his Red Bull RB20

Sergio Perez believes media scrutiny is “probably worse” for Red Bull drivers -with others on the grid also going through bad patches but without the intense focus.

Securing second place in last year’s Drivers’ Championship, Red Bull not only honoured Perez’s contract for 2024, something that was debated during his 2023 qualifying slump, but went on to hand him a new deal after this year’s Monaco Grand Prix.

Sergio Perez will continue with Red Bull ‘after the summer break’

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

But instead of rising to the occasion with his new two-year deal taking the pressure off of his shoulders, Perez went into the summer break on the back of a nine-race streak without a podium finish.

Slumping to seventh in the Drivers’ Championship as McLaren closed in on Red Bull in the Constructors’, team boss Christian Horner declared Red Bull “cannot run on one leg”.

A week later, to the surprise of many, the team boss announced in their Milton Keynes headquarters that Perez would remain a Red Bull driver “after the summer break”.

That at least for now put paid to speculation about who will be in the car when F1 returns from the break with the Dutch Grand Prix. It, however, didn’t answer the question about who will be in the car come 2025.

Perez believes Red Bull drivers have to deal with “worse” scrutiny than the rest of the grid.

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“I think when you look at it there have been other drivers who have had a similar period of bad races, but it’s not so noticeable,” he told the media including PlanetF1.com.

“I think at Red Bull there is a lot of talk all the time in the media and the scrutiny, and it’s probably worse for the Red Bull drivers, definitely.

“But at the same time right away in my career, I grew up like this. I grew up in those days if I didn’t win a race, I didn’t know if I was going to make the next race.

“So I think I was pretty up already with a lot of pressure in my career so it’s no different thing in Formula One. Formula One drivers, we are really used to this sort of pressure.”

With potentially 10 more races to secure his Red Bull future, Perez says he should be judged on where he is in the standings come Abu Dhabi and not the summer break.

“It’s not easy, it’s obviously tough because you know you are in the spotlight of the sport,” he said.

“But more than the emotions, it’s really hard to get out of them and how you don’t let them turn you down to see them as a potential.

“There is always an opportunity, that’s the beauty of this sport. You are as good as your last race. So I really working on getting back my season on track and that’s a main priority.

“Like I said before, we will only remember where I finished in Abu Dhabi so to me if I’m able to have a good couple of races ahead and get my championship back on track, my season can look quite different to how it’s looking at the moment.”

He added: “I don’t need anyone to tell me if it’s a good race or a bad race. I’m experienced enough to know what sort of performance I put in. And like I say the main focus for me is really to get the season back on track.”

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