F1 | Perez was sure to keep his seat for 2022: “Helmut and Christian told me to not look anywhere else”
During the season round up, the Mexican Sergio Perez openly talked about his first challenging year at Red Bull and the work relationship with Christian Horner, who “gives everything” for Red Bull.
After a chaotic season finale, to which he was a brilliant co-protagonist, fighting against and holding back Lewis Hamilton, the Mexican Sergio Perez went through his first season as Red Bull driver and made some observations on his new team.
First of all, Perez claimed he “wasn’t worried at all” Red Bull would decide not to keep him on for a second season with the team.
Indeed, while admitting he had a few hustles in adjusting to the new car and couldn’t really match the performance of his teammate, Max Verstappen, he openly said team principal Christian Horner and motorsport consultant Helmut Marko let him know early Red Bull would re-sign him for a second season.
“No, I wasn’t worried at all,” Perez told RaceFans. “I mean, at this stage of my career, it’s hard to get worried about not getting a seat.
“I think we matched really well, really quickly within the Red Bull family. Very early on, Helmut and Christian told me to not look anywhere else because they wanted to carry on with me.”
The driver was also pretty honest regarding his relationship with his new boss, Christian Horner, who has held the position of Red Bull’s team principal since 2005, winning nine world titles.
Horner guided Red Bull into a position to finally challenge Mercedes’s dominance for the F1 constructors' championship and albeit the Silver Arrows ultimately won, Max Verstappen took his maiden drivers' title by defeating Lewis Hamilton.
The season was filled with drama on and off the track, with Horner at the centre of a season-long feud with counterpart Mercedes boss Toto Wolff as insults and accusations were often levelled at one another.
With the season coming to a dramatic climax, the political war intensified. Asked in an interview, how much he believed the bickering was real, Perez replied: "Well, I think it's a lot the situation we [were] in.
"They are our main competitors. I don't know for Toto, I don't know how he's at work and so on.
"But just speaking for Christian, Red Bull Racing, it's his life. It's everything. He gives everything for it. He gets very passionate and I think it's great to see.
"The sport is great to see drivers with character. It's great to see team bosses with character. It's part of the sport at the end of the day
