The Mexican driver talked about his future at the launch of Red Bull’s challenger for the 2024 season, the RB20.
The current season, in fact, will be the fourth in which Perez has partnered up with Max Verstappen, and the last one of his current contract with the Milton Keynes-based team. The experienced driver’s performance will be key in securing a new deal, especially considering how 2023 was a mixed season for the driver.
In spite of earning his best position ever in the drivers’ standings, P2, and winning two races in the first four rounds, Perez’s second half of the season wasn’t as successful as expected from a Red Bull racer in such a dominant package.
Struggling in qualifying, with a five-race streak of not making the cut to Q3 in one of the best cars ever seen in Formula 1, led the former Racing Point driver to only score two podiums in the final ten rounds of the season.
The 34-year-old summed up his three seasons so far with the Austrian team while talking to selected media during the RB20 presentation, admitting that he hopes to have a chance to extend his partnership with the Bulls:
“I think I’m in a great team, obviously. Being part of the Red Bull family has been amazing. We’ll see what the future holds. For now, I’m fully focused on the start of the year and ideally [it] will be to carry on for more years in this team.”
Asked if he is already worrying about his long term future in the top single-seater championship, Perez denied, adding that he has instead been concentrating on the first official racing outings of the 2024 season, with testing taking place next week in Bahrain and the first GP of the year in the following week.
“No. The start of the season is going to be really busy, so I’m just focusing on the first few races and that’s my main objective.”
“I don’t think I’m setting skipping any time limits or anything like that. For now, I’m just focusing on the first five races to get the most out of it because it’s going to be taking a lot of energy out of me. I just don’t want any distractions.”
The Red Bull driver appears to not have been fazed by the rumours spread in the past weeks about him being substituted for the 2025 season and onwards by the driver he himself had replaced as Verstappen’s teammate, Alexander Albon.
The Thai driver, after a DTM experience, has more than proven his worth in his past two years competing for Williams and showcasing a great deal of speed and race management.
“I’m sure that most of the drivers are going to be willing to get things done a lot earlier in the year. From my side, I’m just focusing on having a great year, the rest always takes care of itself.
“As long as you are performing on track, the rest always comes comes into place, so I’m not really bothered about it. It’s my 14th season in F1, so for me my main target is performing well on track,”concluded the winner of the 2023 Miami GP.
