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Laurence Edmondson, F1 Editor
AUSTIN, Texas — Sergio Pérez has denied reports he is set to retire from Formula One at the end of this year and remains 100 percent certain he will be a Red Bull driver in 2024.
Perez is currently a distant second to teammate Max Verstappen in the drivers’ championship this year, scoring just 224 points to the recently crowned champion’s 433.
At the past three races, Perez has slumped even further, scoring just five points compared to Verstappen’s 69.
The pressure building on Perez heightened last week when a poster on Reddit claimed they had information from a representative at Mexican telecoms giant Telmex that Perez would announce his retirement at his home race in Mexico next weekend.
Speaking to reporters ahead of this weekend’s U.S. Grand Prix, Perez said the story was false.
“That really sums up my season: a guy says something about me and all of a sudden it becomes true,” he said. “But I have a contract for next year and I have no reason to not fulfil that contract.
“I’m going to give my very best to it, I’ve done a commitment but it will not be my final contract in Formula One.”
Perez said retiring from F1 at the end of this year would represent an easy way out from his current struggles, but one that he is not willing to take.
“It’s not ideal when you go through a difficult period of your career,” he said. “But I just love the challenge of getting back at it. The easiest thing would be to just walk out of it. But that’s not me, that’s not who I am and I will not give up.
“I have zero doubts about being back to my best level and that is my only target that I have in mind. I don’t even think about retirement or anything like that because that’s just the easy route.”
Asked if he was certain his Red Bull contract is watertight for 2024, he said: “100 percent.
“I have a contract and conversations with the team as well. There is no reason for me not to fulfil that contract.”
Perez said his lack of confidence in the Red Bull, especially on corner entries, is the root cause of his struggles, but accepts the current gap in performance to Verstappen is unacceptable.
“Definitely, we cannot have this sort of gap,” he said. “I think, basically, to go back to the first six races or so and we were fighting with Max. That’s the target, to get back to that level of comfort with the car.
“My issues have been real and we’ve been struggling with the car a bit and hopefully next year can be a different story, but also these next five races.”
Source: www.espn.com