Sergio Perez “thought about” retiring but refused to “give up”

Sergio Perez batted away any thoughts about retiring after his difficult year.

The Red Bull driver has been under scrutiny for the entire campaign, with his race seat at constant threat.

He also faced criticism for his performance in the RB20 before the car’s limitations became clearer when Max Verstappen also started struggling.

Perez told DAZN about walking away from Formula 1: "These last six months I thought about it, but it took me three seconds to make the decision.

“In the end, it would be the easy route, after so many years, to leave and in a way give up.

“I would never have forgiven myself for it.”

Red Bull placed their faith in Perez to retain his race seat at the mid-way stage of this stage, a courtesy which was not extended to RB’s Daniel Ricciardo.

But the arrival of Liam Lawson at RB now provides a fresh contender to replace Perez in the senior team in 2025.

Perez insists that he doesn’t want to be forced out.

"I want to finish my career when I want and not when someone tells me to,” he said.

“That is my main focus: to get to the point where I can decide my future.

"For now I am very motivated, the truth is, I really want to continue in F1. I enjoy it.

“Especially the good moments you enjoy a lot, but you also learn to enjoy the bad ones.

"For now I have two more years on my contract, and two years in F1 is a long time, but I know that the end is getting closer.

"I don't see myself running here like Fernando Alonso, for example, whom I admire a lot for everything he does at his age.

“It's not that I wouldn't like to, but because I have small children and I want to spend a lot more time with them. At the end of the day, they will be the limit."

Perez is 34 and, although he has a contract for next season, he must come back firing at the United States Grand Prix to warn off any threats to his seat.