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Sergio Perez’s struggles at Red Bull were well-documented, but he has now claimed that the team only realised how good he was after he left.
Joining Red Bull in 2021, the Mexican driver spent four years with the team, where he served as number two to Max Verstappen. Perez won five races in that time and played a key role in his teammate’s four world championship wins, finishing second in 2023.
But the 36-year-old struggled immensely with the car and the ongoing drama around him with key Red Bull personnel. Q1 exits and non-points finishes became a regular occurrence, eventually ending with his sacking at the end of 2024.
Should Sergio Perez be more grateful to Red Bull?
Sergio Perez says Red Bull realised how good he actually was after they sacked him
His final season with Red Bull was utterly miserable, finishing outside the top five in every race after round six and eighth overall in the championship. Perez felt sorry for his replacement, as he constantly complained about the car’s feeling and sensitive setup.
He would prove correct, as Verstappen’s 2025 teammates, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda, fared even worse. The former was axed after just two races, while the latter was sacked at the end of the year after scoring just 30 points with the team.
Otmar Szafnauer felt Verstappen would have won in 2025 if Perez stayed at Red Bull. The Mexican was much closer to the Dutchman than many of his former teammates, and he now says that the team only realised how good he was after he left.
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Talking about how Red Bull was set up for Verstappen, he said on the High Performance Podcast: “So, instead of me thinking, ‘Oh, why?’ I say, ‘Look, I come here, and I make the most of it in all regards.’ And it’s what I did. I went there with the tools available that I had at my expense.
“I think I overdelivered in all areas over there. It worked out perfectly. Of course, it turned out to be there were some very tough times, very tough periods towards the end as well.
“The pressure and everyone internally. We had too much success, or people got bored, I think, and they were fighting each other, and all the drama around.
“But they were 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.”
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Christian Horner told Sergio Perez Red Bull would be happy to use just Max Verstappen when they signed him
Now with Cadillac, Perez feels motivated after his Red Bull sacking and wants to guide F1’s newcomers towards the front of the grid. He is in a much better environment than he had in Milton Keynes.
The 36-year-old knew he was walking into Verstappen’s team, and team principal Christian Horner even told him that he would be happy to race with just one car if he could when he signed him in 2021.
Perez recalled: “It was great. I would say that it was fantastic. I knew that I was going into Red Bull, into a project that was built for Max over the years. When they signed me up, it was very clear, I knew what I’d signed up for.
“First time I met Christian, he told me, ‘I mean, we go racing with two cars because we have to, otherwise we will be super happy just to race with one car.’
“Like, everything is for Max, around Max. We want to win the championship.”
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