Perez spent four seasons alongside Verstappen between 2021 and 2024, recording five grand prix wins, 26 podiums and a career-best second place in the 2023 drivers’ championship.
However, a difficult final campaign ultimately brought his time at Red Bull to an end, with the Mexican finishing eighth in the standings after failing to place inside the top five beyond the opening six rounds.
Speaking on the High Performance Podcast, Perez said he knew before joining Red Bull that Verstappen would be prioritised by the team.
“It was great. I would say it was fantastic,” he said.
“I knew I was going to Red Bull, into a project that had been built around Max over the years.
“When they signed me, it was very clear. I knew what I’d signed up for.”
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Perez said Christian Horner reinforced that position during his first meeting with the then-Red Bull team principal.
“The first time I met Christian, he told me, ‘We go racing with two cars because we have to, you know. Otherwise, we’d be super happy just to race with one car. Everything is for Max, around Max. We want to win the championship’.”
Perez, who has previously spoken about the difficulty of racing alongside Verstappen, reiterated that competing against the Dutchman within his established Red Bull environment was the toughest challenge in Formula 1.
“To face Max at Red Bull is the toughest challenge. I mean, even to face Max at any other team would be very tough,” he said.
“But to face him at Red Bull, with his team, his people, his surroundings, it’s tough, and you need the best of the best in every area, and you just don’t have that, you know.
“While he has all the opportunities in terms of engineering, senior engineers, experienced engineers, everything goes to Max.
“But I knew that before I came, so I thought, ‘Look, I can either complain or get on with what I have’, and that’s what I did.
“The four years I was there, I kept the same engineering team. That’s something I feel extremely proud of.”
Perez said he believed accepting his position within Red Bull allowed him to remain with the team for four seasons, despite feeling there was little opportunity to change the structure around him.
“I think the only reason I survived there for so long is because, first of all, how I built my character. So for me it was like peanuts,” he said.
“Being in that position and accepting it… I think you have to accept in which position you are, and you cannot overpush the system too much because they just break you. Also I was completely on my own at Red Bull.
“In terms of management, I felt like there was not much we could do with the system. This is what you get given and this is it.”
While Perez felt supported to a point by Red Bull, he said the team never attempted to hide that Verstappen remained the centre of its F1 project.
“I felt supported to a certain point. More than that, nobody was willing to do it,” he said.
“The team was behind me, like Christian and Helmut would be happy if I win a race. But at the end of the day, they will tell me the whole project is done for our driver and our driver is Max.
“So for me it was clear and I accepted that. I just tried to make the most of it.
“There were years where I thought we are on a par, I can really give a fight – but then as soon as there were upgrades, the difference would increase quite a bit.”
Perez nevertheless believes he exceeded expectations during his four seasons at Red Bull and claimed the team only recognised his contribution after replacing him.
“I went there with the tools available that I had to my expense. I think I overdelivered in all areas over there. It worked out perfectly,” he explained.
“Of course, it turned out, there were some very tough times, very tough periods towards the end as well.
“The pressure and everyone internally were… We had too much success so people got bored I think and they were fighting each other and you know all the drama around.
“But they were [a] fantastic four years. I think I overdelivered and only once I left and they brought in all the other drivers they realised the job that I’ve done for them for four years.”
Liam Lawson initially replaced Perez for the 2025 season but was dropped after two rounds, while Yuki Tsunoda scored only 30 points after taking over the seat for the remainder of the campaign.
Perez spent the season away from F1 before returning with newcomer Cadillac in 2026.
During the wide-ranging interview, the 36-year-old also reflected on his role in saving the team now known as Aston Martin during its financial crisis under the Force India name.
Perez said he had gone unpaid for the entire year when his manager informed him that a supplier had filed a winding-up petition against the team.
“It was really late, at the very latest stage. I had no idea on anything to do with law. They didn’t pay my salary for the entire year,” said Perez.
“It was kind of normal. We were having a bit of a delay. But my manager told me there was a winding-up petition from one of the suppliers that hadn’t been paid.
“What does that mean? Basically, they can shut down the company, and the whole team will lose their jobs. And you can’t save it.
“We did the whole process to put the team in administration before the winding-up petition comes into place.
“Together with Julian [Jakobi], my manager. If we didn’t put them into administration, the team would have gone bankrupt at the time.
“At the time, it was Force India, which is now Aston Martin. Aston Martin wouldn’t exist. We had 90 days to find a buyer.
“Luckily for the team, in came Lawrence, and he ended up buying while we were on administration.”
Lawrence Stroll’s consortium purchased the operation in 2018, with the team competing as Racing Point before adopting the Aston Martin name in 2021.
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