Perez’s Formula 1 career is at a crossroads with a prolonged slump in form coinciding with the rise of a number of Red Bull Racing’s rivals.
Without the Mexican driver’s contribution, the Milton Keynes squad has fallen from a comfortable lead in the constructors’ championship to third behind McLaren and Ferrari.
Worse, it looks powerless to recover the lost ground, despite Max Verstappen winning the Sao Paulo Grand Prix last time out.
After scoring a healthy 103 points in the opening six races of 2024, Perez has contributed just another 48.
In the same 15-event period, Verstappen has amassed 257.
That lack of return leaves Perez staring down the barrel of an exit from Red Bull Racing at the end of the season.
“It’s how the sport is. You have one, two bad races, a lot of negative talk about you and so on,” Perez admitted in an interview with GQ.
“But it’s also something in the culture of the team as well—with Red Bull. The surrounding talk, the contract talks and so on. It’s just part of the game.”
Concern surrounding Perez’s future comes despite a signed contract with Red Bull Racing for 2025.
That was confirmed in June though it is widely understood performance clauses already allow a change to be made if desired.
Franco Colapinto and Liam Lawson have both been touted as potential replacements to the embattled 34-year-old.
Should Red Bull opt for a change, it would likely see Perez out of Formula 1 next season.
That’s despite the Mexican having attracted interest elsewhere earlier in the year and committed to Red Bull Racing.
“I had an opportunity, two opportunities, to change teams.” he confessed.
“When I looked at it, I thought, I really love the challenge I have at Red Bull.
“It’s a massive challenge being Max’s team-mate. It’s a challenge that basically trains you for all of it.
“So I said, I want to spend my last part of my career at the top, at the very top, where the pressure, it’s full-on.”
A one-time race winner before he joined Red Bull Racing, Perez has added a further five in nearly four years with the squad.
That included two in the early stages of 2023 when he briefly looked capable of mounting a championship challenge to Verstappen.
His win in last year’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix remains his most recent, while this year’s Chinese Grand Prix was the last time he was on the podium.
And while Perez recognises that things haven’t gone swimmingly for him, he’s pragmatic enough to realise he’s still achieved more than most.
“At the end of the day, when you go through a difficult period, there is a lot of talk,” he acknowledged.
“But ultimately, there is 90 percent of the grid who would have loved to have my career.”
“When you are a driver, you only think about the next race—the next challenge, the next category, the next contract,” he added.
“It’s always about next, next, next.
“Sometimes it’s good to step back out of it and remember how far you’ve gone. It’s a very brutal sport.”
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