Sergio Perez revealed he has had “two opportunities to change teams”, but opted to stay at Red Bull because he relishes the challenge of being Max Verstappen’s team-mate.
Perez’s future has come under scrutiny as the season has progressed, despite signing a contract extension earlier this year – with the Red Bull driver having struggled for form in much of the second half of the year compared to his team-mate.
Sergio Perez reveals ‘two opportunities to change teams’
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said he will evaluate how Perez has performed at the end of the season, with the team boss having been understood by PlanetF1.com to have approached Williams over a potential move for Franco Colapinto to join the Red Bull stable.
Perez, meanwhile, admitted he has had the opportunity to switch teams but refused, saying he wants to end his career “at the very top” of the sport.
While he admitted the pressure is “full-on” in his position, the Mexican believes the majority of the grid “would have loved” to have been in his position at this point of his career.
“I had an opportunity, two opportunities, to change teams,” Perez revealed to GQ.
“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.
“At the end of the day, when you go through a difficult period, there is a lot of talk, but ultimately, there is 90 percent of the grid who would have loved to have my career.”
Having been spoken about for much of the season by Red Bull bosses and media for the pressure under which he finds himself to perform, Perez admitted this is a part of Formula 1 as a whole.
“It’s how the sport is. You have one, two bad races, a lot of negative talk about you and so on,” Perez said.
“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.”