Sep.10 (GMM) Sergio Perez admits the support of “millions” of Mexican compatriots makes all the criticism so far this year a lot easier.
Despite his recently-signed Red Bull contract for 2025 and 2026, the 34-year-old entered the August break under an ongoing cloud of career uncertainty, raging speculation and widespread criticism.
But at the last couple of races, even triple world champion and teammate Max Verstappen began to similarly struggle with poor car handling – and the gap between the two Red Bulls significantly narrowed.
“Once we are able to solve it, it’s going to benefit both of us drivers a lot,” said Perez. “But it might benefit me even more on my side.
“I think we’ve had the correlation issue for a while and it’s there with a lot of the other teams too. But the main problem is that we probably took a wrong direction somewhere that we have to understand.
“I think the solution will be the same for both cars. Max can just probably cope with the problem a little better than I can.”
But when the gap was much bigger, calls for Perez to be ousted were deafening – but Perez says huge support within Mexico made it easier to cope with.
“The affection I get from the Mexican people is incredible,” he told Grupo Formula. “For every person who speaks badly about me, there are millions of people to defend me. That’s what I’ve realised.”
Some even believe Formula 1 pleaded with Red Bull to keep Perez in the car so as not to affect huge attendance and excitement at the Mexican GP late next month.
“That support is something I really appreciate,” he said. “In the end, you know that you are not alone.
“But even when you’re on the other side of the world, there’s a whole country behind you, pushing the car forward, so to speak. I feel it especially in the bad times.
“It’s something that motivates me a lot and makes it exciting.”
A few days ago, Perez admitted that he knows he is approaching the end of his F1 adventure, insisting that his goal is to end his career in a Red Bull.
He now says: “I will never give up until I achieve the dreams of all those people who support me so much.”