When Helmut Marko copped a £6,000 bill for a Sergio Perez psychologist session

Sergio Perez has revealed that he was encouraged to use a psychologist in his early days at Red Bull, with Helmut Marko copping a £6,000 bill for a single session.

Perez spent four seasons at Red Bull between 2021 and 2024, collecting all but one of his six career victories with the Milton Keynes team.

Sergio Perez was encouraged to use psychologist at Red Bull

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The Mexican driver was replaced at the end of 2024 following a lacklustre season, with Perez’s replacements – Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda – struggling alongside Max Verstappen in 2025.

After spending last year on the sidelines, Perez is returning to F1 in 2026 with the new Cadillac team, partnering former Mercedes race winner Valtteri Bottas.

With Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon struggling alongside Verstappen in 2019/20, Perez has claimed that he was advised by the team to work with a psychologist after a difficult start to his first season at Red Bull.

Perez failed to record a podium across the first five races of 2021 before taking victory on his sixth appearance for Red Bull at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku.

Appearing on the Cracks podcast, Perez revealed that he was once confronted with a £6,000 bill when he visited the Red Bull factory after just one session with the psychologist.

The former Sauber, McLaren and Force India driver laughed as he told the team to hand the bill over to Marko.

Perez said: “As soon as I arrived at Red Bull, in the first races, when I didn’t deliver results, [the team said]: ‘What you need is a psychologist, you have to see a psychologist.’

“One day I arrived at the Red Bull factory and they tell me: ‘Hey, there’s a bill for you: £6,000 from the psychologist.’

“I tell them: ‘Ah, can you send it to Helmut? He’ll pay it.’

“It was £6,000 for one call. Then Helmut says to me: ‘Hey, how did it go?’

“I told him: ‘Perfect. With this session, we’re all set.’

“And that’s how we went on for three years.

“Already cured by the psychologist, the results started to come. The call worked.”

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Marko left Red Bull at the end of 2025 with PlanetF1.com reporting last month that he is set to receive his full annual salary for 2026 – believed to be in the region of €10million – as a gesture of appreciation after more than 20 years of service.

Perez failed to win a race across his final season with Red Bull in 2024, resulting in team and driver parting ways at the end of the season.

PlanetF1.com understands that Perez sought help from the esteemed driver coach Rob Wilson, who has worked with the likes of Kimi Raikkonen, Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll and Kevin Magnussen, during the 2024 campaign in an attempt to get his season back on track.

Perez went on to reveal that he looked for help “everywhere” in 2024, claiming it was hard for him to succeed with “your whole team against you.”

Perez previously claimed that he was informed early on in his Red Bull career by Christian Horner that “this project was created for Max”, claiming “everything was a problem” regardless of whether he was faster or slower than Verstappen on track.

He explained: “In the last years, it was so much that I said, ‘Well, maybe I do need help, right? The results aren’t coming.’

“I looked for it everywhere.

“But deep down I knew perfectly well that when you have a car where you’re thinking about what’s going to happen, what it’s going to do, in which corner you’re going to crash, you can’t go fast.

“And on top of that, you have your whole team against you. Publicly, it was very difficult.

“I think only someone very mentally strong can withstand something like that.”

Perez’s comments come after Isack Hadjar, Verstappen’s new teammate for F1 2026, outlined his own approach to co-existing with the four-time world champion.

Speaking to select media including PlanetF1.com at the end of 2025, Hadjar revealed that he already accepts that he will be slower than Verstappen at the start of 2026.

This outlook, he believes, will help him survive during the more challenging periods at Red Bull.

Hadjar said: “If anything, the goal is to accept that I’m going to be slower the first month.

“I think that, if you go into that mindset [and] you accept already that it’s going to be very tough… looking at the data and seeing things you can’t achieve yet.

“It’s going to be very frustrating. But if you know, then you’re more prepared.”

He added: “Everyone thinks they’re special. Coming in [to Red Bull and saying of Verstappen]: ‘He’s a human, I’m going to beat him.’

“And then you get stomped over. And then the snowball effect starts.

“Whereas, if you come in, you’re like: ‘I’m nowhere near…’

“We’re talking about the best driver on the grid, so the chance that I’m slow at the start of the year is very high.

“So I might as well accept it now and just work towards getting there.

“Of course, I’m hoping to be as fast as him. I’m hoping, but realistically there’s very little chance.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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