Having left Pink Bull on the finish of final season, six-time F1 race winner Sergio Perez revealed that the choice course of that led to his departure from the Milton Keynes-based outfit was each sudden and speedy.
Sergio Perez joined Pink Bull for the 2021 F1 season. The Mexican driver took his first victory for Pink Bull on the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, ending the season fourth within the drivers’ standings.
Pérez then went on to safe additional wins in Monaco and Singapore in 2022, and he additionally grabbed his maiden pole place in Saudi Arabia en path to a third-place within the drivers’ standings. The 2023 F1 season noticed Pérez end runner-up to Verstappen within the 2023 World Drivers’ Championship, after further victories in Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan.
Nonetheless, the 34-year-old endured a tricky season final 12 months, struggling for pure tempo in qualifying which regularly led to a tough race on Sunday. Following this winless 2024 marketing campaign, Pérez and Pink Bull mutually agreed to terminate his contract.
Reflecting on his exit from Pink Bull, the Mexican driver revealed that the choice course of was each sudden and speedy.
“All the things occurred actually late within the season. I wasn’t actually anticipating it to occur. It solely turned clearer as soon as we had been in Qatar, and we began to debate and negotiate my exit of the staff. All of it occurred in a short time.
“For me, it was quite simple, the automobile is simply fairly tough to get 100% out of it, to get the arrogance out of it – and the issues I struggled with, even Adrian [Newey] talked about them.”
Regardless of parting methods with Pink Bull, Perez hopes that his former staff will carry out properly sooner or later, and he has confirmed that he nonetheless has mates on the Austrian-Anglo outfit.
“I actually need the staff to do properly, as I’ve numerous mates on the staff. I spent 4 years with them and I need to see them doing properly. It’s only a very laborious factor to speak about.
“Proper now, I’m on the skin, I’ve been in contact with some staff members there – however while you’re not there internally, it’s laborious to know [what’s happening].”
As for Yuki Tsunoda, who has just lately changed his personal substitute Liam Lawson, Perez claimed that he hopes that the Japanese driver will carry out properly.
“Woody [Richard Wood], who is a superb pal of mine, is engineering Yuki now so I actually hope they do properly. Yuki has the expertise, has the pace and, greater than that, you want the mentality to deal with it. I believe he has the best mentality and the best angle to deal with it. I hope they’ll succeed.”
F1