Sergio Perez remains coy on talk about his future at Red Bull Racing after his difficult recent run, putting the focus on the Milton Keynes Formula 1 team and saying “we all want to do better.”
Perez has been in the spotlight following a frustrating home race in Mexico City, after which team boss Christian Horner stressed that he has to get results and that “there comes a time when difficult decisions have to be made.”
Perez is contracted to the team for 2025-’26, and he has always insisted that there are no doubts about his future.
Asked by this writer about Horner’s comments Perez simply said that the team as a whole needs to improve.
“It’s all linked and all related to us being strong,” he said. “We want to get back together as a team. I think that’s the main priority, for the team, and it’s where the main focus is.
“We are not happy where the pace is at the moment. And we all want to do better. Simple as that.”
Asked if he’d been set any targets over the last four races he said: “Well, basically, I just want to maximise the potential. Last weekend we lost some good points, and here I really hope that we have a shot to the podium.
“Simple as that. I am just trying to work together with the team to improve the car, and just be more competitive.”
He added: “I think we are working flat out. We have engineers going back to Milton Keynes in between races.
“Everyone is pushing flat out to understand where the pace has gone. I think the pace obviously in Mexico was disappointing, and I think we understand a lot of the reasons. So I really hope that here we can put it together as a team and be in the mix.”
Perez is still waiting for the floor upgrade that Max Verstappen received in Austin.
“No, we don’t have it at the moment,” he said. “And yeah, hopefully for Vegas now that there will be a little bit more time I will have it.
“There’s something in it. Also a bit of weight. We’re cutting a little bit of weight and so on. It’s not ideal, but obviously the team is doing the best they can. We’ve been affected also with so many incidents for now. So yeah, the team is pushing flat out.”
Perez also downplayed the critical comments he made about Liam Lawson following their costly collision in the Mexican race.
“For me, this is obviously in the heat of the moment,” he said. “Now, there’s been a little bit of time to digest.
And yeah, I think you know, all I can say that the race was looking great for both of us at the time, being on the alternative strategy, it was the start of the race, there was a big opportunity, and I think there was no need to come together.”
Perez said that the Red Bull management backed his view that Lawson was at fault.
“We viewed it the same way,” he said. “I think there was no need to have the contact, whatsoever. I think the race for both cars was looking great. And yeah, simply was there was no need to come together.
“Like I say, I think we were all aligned on it. We all felt similar. We lost a lot of points for us, because I think at the time, where you look where you see where the Piastri finished, and he was much further away, we were on the alternative strategy.
“We were making progress. We looked pretty quick at the time, we definitely lost important points, and at the end of the day, that’s what really matters.”
Adam Cooper F1 