BUDAPEST: Sergio Perez said he rejected opportunities from two other Formula 1 teams to return to Red Bull for the 2025 season.
Perez signed an extension earlier this year but has come under intense scrutiny while falling to eighth in the drivers' standings. While teammate Max Verstappen is closing in a fourth consecutive championship, the team has dropped to third in the constructor standings with Perez recording only 48 points over the past 15 races.
"I had an opportunity, two opportunities, to change teams," Perez said in an interview with GQ, without disclosing which teams approached him. "When I looked at it, I thought, I really love the challenge I have at Red Bull.
"It's a massive challenge being Max's teammate. It's a challenge that basically trains you for all of it.
"So, I said I want to spend my last part of my career at the top, at the very top, where the pressure, it's full-on."
Team principal Christian Horner has been openly critical of Perez's form this season, while others have called for Red Bull to replace the 34-year-old driver next season. Multiple names have been tied to various rumors, including young drivers Liam Lawson and Franco Colapinto.
The six-time F1 race winner said he isn't bothered by the rumors, which come with being an F1 driver.
"It's how the sport is. You have one, two bad races, a lot of negative talk about you and so on," Perez told GQ.
"But it's also something in the culture of the team as well – with Red Bull. The surrounding talk, the contract talks and so on. It's just part of the game."
Perez hasn't won this season, and his most recent podium came in China back in April. With three races remaining, he sits 39 points behind Lewis Hamilton and 41 behind George Russell in the standings. Red Bull is 13 points back of Ferrari and 49 behind McLaren in the constructor standings.
"At the end of the day, when you go through a difficult period, there is a lot of talk," he said. "But ultimately, there is 90 percent of the grid who would have loved to have my career.
"When you are a driver, you only think about the next race – the next challenge, the next category, the next contract. It's always about next, next, next.
"Sometimes it's good to step back out of it and remember how far you've gone. It's a very brutal sport." --REUTERS