Over the course of the last two seasons, Sergio Perez has faced immense criticism from his critics. With most people calling for Red Bull to axe him, the Mexican has recently shed some light on his future in F1. Per the 34-year-old, his time in an F1 car is coming to an end soon, as he wants to be with his family. But before he steps away from F1, he wants to repay Red Bull favors.
Speaking to The Times, the Red Bull driver detailed how he had fought all his life to be where he is. However, he added that he does not want to do it for much longer for the sake of his family. Staying away from them is becoming increasingly harder, and he does not want to leave them behind “all the time.”
I know that I’m towards the end of my career, because I don’t want to do it for too long. There will be a time, I don’t know when, where I will just have to say, look, ‘I cannot live anymore with leaving my family all the time behind,’” he said.
A father of three children, the 34-year-old stands as one of the most senior drivers on the grid. Thus, he knows he can’t stick around for much longer. But before he retires, he wants to be able to win a few more championships for Red Bull, so he can return everything the Austrian team did for him.
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"It’s definitely hard [spending significant amount of time in F1 away from family], but it’s worth it. I’ve been fighting all my life to be here. I know that I’m towards the… pic.twitter.com/sPZfjhRWBi
— RBR News 🇳🇱🇲🇽 (@redbulletin) September 5, 2024
The 2024 season has been particularly tough for the #11 driver, who has failed to deliver after securing P2 in 2023. Critics have bombarded him from all sides, asking that his tenure at Red Bull be cut short. In such a difficult time, he continues to learn to block out all the outside noise and focus on the job at hand.
Perez knows he needs to work on caring less about public opinion
Talking further, the Red Bull driver detailed how his immediate future was never a concern. Having recently signed a contract extension, the main thing to focus on for him and the team was how to improve. The Austrian team has a lot of work to do, and Perez claims everything else has been “pure speculation, driven by different agendas.”
While he knows he is good at switching off the outside noises, the 34-year-old understands he can be even better. He realizes that this trait can help him maximize his potential, given a team is the one that believes in a driver the most.
Although it may be easy to say one doesn’t care about people’s opinions, the Mexican driver admits to caring about them. However, he wants to care less and less every time and has already started working on the same.
