After leaving Red Bull, Sergio Perez even thought his career might be over: Now the Mexican explains why the situation pushed him to his mental limits
Formula 1 driver Sergio Perez looked back on the final phase of his time at Red Bull on the High Performance podcast and described the last six months as “extremely tough.” Perez said: “I actually consider myself to be very resilient mentally, but it was an exceptionally difficult time. I would even say: It was toxic.”
According to Perez, the internal pressure at Red Bull was “enormous”: The expectation was that Perez would build on his successes from previous years. From 2021 to 2023, the Mexican had won a total of five Grands Prix as a Red Bull driver and, in 2023, secured second place behind World Champion Max Verstappen, enabling Red Bull’s first “one-two finish” in the drivers’ standings.
After a promising start with four podium finishes in five races, however, Perez’s run of success came to an abrupt halt in the subsequent races of the 2024 season: Following a fourth-place finish in Miami, he could not manage better than sixth place at Zandvoort. He finished the year in eighth place in the overall World Championship standings, while Verstappen became world champion once again.
Internal power struggles worsen the team atmosphere
In Perez’s view, the lack of results was compounded by political power struggles within the team: “We were simply too successful. At some point, some people got bored with it and started working against each other.”
Perez didn’t name names at this point, but his comments may have been an allusion to then-team principal Christian Horner, who was forced to leave the team in mid-2025 and was replaced by Laurent Mekies. Only after that did calm return to Red Bull.
Perez didn’t know if there would be a comeback
By then, Perez was no longer with the team: He had agreed to an early termination of his contract with Red Bull in the winter of 2024. Although he described his time at Red Bull as “four fantastic years overall,” due to the various incidents, “I really wanted a break,” Perez said. “The year away from Formula 1 came at exactly the right time for me.”
Perez finally returned in 2026: He signed with Formula 1 newcomer Cadillac. But the comeback hadn’t been planned at the time of his departure from Red Bull: “Back then, I didn’t know if I wanted to come back. When I left Formula 1, I really thought that might have been it. And I was at peace with that thought.”
