‘Exactly, exactly’ – Perez’s small dig at Red Bull confidence question

Sergio Perez refrained from laying into Red Bull when he spoke about regaining his confidence with Cadillac after struggling in his final years with the Milton Keynes team.

He did, however, get in one small dig when he agreed that “a lot of drivers” questioning their abilities had come through Red Bull.

Sergio Perez reflects on Red Bull struggles after Cadillac comeback

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Although Perez had a contract with Red Bull for the F1 2025 season, he left the team by mutual agreement after a difficult 2024 campaign.

Perez began the season with four podiums in five races, but that was the end of his success. His results slumped as the season progressed, with the driver managing just eight points in the final eight races.

He returned to the grid with Cadillac this season, signing alongside the experienced Valtteri Bottas to lead the charge in the team’s debut F1 campaign.

Although neither driver is off the mark this season, Perez declared after the Canadian Grand Prix, where he recorded a P11 in the Sprint, that he had proven to himself that he is “one of the best out there”.

But it wasn’t a case of him bragging and climbing onto his soapbox; it was more of a validation of his own form after a trying end to his time with Red Bull.

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“Well, obviously, when you look at my last six months of Red Bull, you wouldn’t think that I’m one of the best out there,” he told the media, including PlanetF1.com in Monaco.

“But when you understand the circumstances, the people that understand performance at the end of the day, when you see the level of performance that I’m putting with my team, you realise that I’m one of the best out there.

“At the end of the day, you require the right circumstances for your talent, to be able to show it. So, in that regard, I’m very pleased I came back and proved it to myself.

“At the end of the day, it’s just a game with myself as the driver is that you want to have that confidence in you.”

His performances as a Cadillac driver have boosted the Mexican driver’s confidence, which took a knock during his time with Red Bull.

Unable to match Max Verstappen in their first three seasons together, and falling even further behind in 2024, Perez admitted he began to question whether he was the problem.

Now he knows he wasn’t.

“When I already went back, obviously it kind of hurts you on the confidence side when you struggle the way I struggled in my last period at Red Bull, it hurts your confidence.

“When I jumped in the Ferrari [during a one-off pre-season outing], and I was up to up to speed within 10 laps after not driving anything, I was like must be the circumstances I was seeing.

“Then the last three, four races, the level of performance that I’m able to put – qualifying, race, race pace – makes me feel like the speed has been always.

“There are a lot of circumstances as a driver you cannot control when you are struggling with so many different pictures.

“So it’s a great, it’s a great boost of confidence, and a great example. A lot of drivers that go through it, and it makes you feel like ‘maybe I’m the problem, and I’m not probably as good as I used to be’, but it’s all about the circumstances around you.”

Put to him that it was a lot of drivers “from Red Bull”, he replied: “Exactly, exactly.”

He then moved away from that topic with a chuckle, “Let’s jump this one.”

Perez was replaced at Red Bull by Liam Lawson, but the New Zealander lasted just two races before he returned to Racing Bulls and Yuki Tsunoda took his place.

While the Japanese driver saw out the season, he scored just 30 points in Red Bull colours and was demoted to a reserve role for this year’s championship.

Isack Hadjar is the newest driver at Red Bull and while he’s managed two top-tens in five races, his 14 points trail Verstappen’s 43.

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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