Sergio Perez insists "I will be here again next year" as he addresses F1 speculation

Sergio Perez has dismissed speculation surrounding a performance clause in his contract which could allow Red Bull to axe him during the F1 summer break.

It’s been reported that Red Bull could activate a clause in Perez’s new F1 deal that if he’s more than 100 points behind Max Verstappen at the summer break - the current gap is 137 - they could make a change.

Liam Lawson was testing for Red Bull last week, while Yuki Tsunoda has made it clear he’s ready for a promotion.

Perez’s sudden downturn in form has left Red Bull vulnerable in the F1 constructors’ championship amid McLaren’s impressive results, even if they continue to leave wins on the table.

Speaking ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, where Crash.net are in the paddock, Perez clarified the rumours that the summer break is a possible deadline.

“There’s nothing related to that,” he said. “Obviously I cannot talk about my contract. What I said was the next two races are important for me, I want to go on holiday with a good spirit and I think it’s good for my side of the garage to go with a good spirit.

“I wasn’t talking about anything else. I’m fully focused to fully deliver. I will be here and here again next year and that’s nothing different. I’m just fully committed to myself.”

Perez has scored just 15 points in the last six races, fewer than Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg.

The Mexican’s worrying performances is a trend from the last two seasons where he started the year off strongly before tipping during the European leg of the campaign.

Perez has vowed to bounce back, with his final position in Abu Dhabi, the most important thing.

“Well, I haven’t been performing, he added. “First of all, at my 100% in the circumstances when you put yourself in difficult positions. I take a lot of responsibility for that.

“Obviously there’s been a lot of circumstances as well with different sort of races, so I think it’s a little bit of everything when you are in this vicious circle.

We had a really strong Friday but then I messed up in Silverstone in qualifying. Then with the strategy in Silverstone we just throw the dice and see what happened and it didn’t work for us.

“The main thing is I’ve been in this business too long and I know it will only matter where I finish in Abu Dhabi. So let’s ride the rollercoaster and hopefully get back on form very soon.”

Perez admitted that shutting out the “noise” has been difficult, conceding that racing for a top team like Red Bull inevitably brings more pressure and scrutiny.

He concluded: “It’s difficult to shut down the external noise but at the end of the day I come here to get my very best, my maximum effort and when I’m here, when I’m at home training or at home in the simulator I focus on the important stuff.

“At the end of the day the noise - I think it’s a lot bigger when you’re at Red Bull. But it’s the beauty of this challenge.

“It’s why I decided to sign and extend my contract with this team because I love the challenge. It’s really hard but it takes absolutely everything out of you and that’s why I wanted to continue here.”