Perez: Reserve role with top F1 team my ‘Plan C’ for 2021

Sergio Perez says he's open to being an F1 reserve driver in 2021 should be not be required to travel to all of the races. 

The inform Mexican is without a drive after Racing Point replaced him with Sebastian Vettel for 2021.

Perez’s only option appears to be the second Red Bull seat alongside Max Verstappen, while a sabbatical is also an option for the outgoing Racing Point driver.

When asked about the prospect of becoming a reserve driver for 2021, Perez said: “We haven’t gone into too much detail with it, it’s just an option, but it’s not my priority. 

“I think we have to figure out in case we get into that how we can make it work, because as I said I don’t want to be going to all the races if I’m not driving. It’s a hard one, obviously, the team needs to get a driver there, so probably I’m not the right person for it but we will see. I think in the next two weeks I will know more about my future but that’s something I can still decide on next year, what’s really the ultimate thing I want to do for 2021.

“That came up later, but I still think at the stage that I am in my career I want to drive. I think if I’m not driving it’s very hard to attend the races without driving. So as I say there’s no hurry on that, I’ll wait and see what happens in the coming weeks and then I’ll see whether I prefer to take a full sabbatical and come back in 2022. At the moment that’s definitely Plan B.

“I think that will be Plan C! So you know my A and my B and now you know my C.”

The Mexican was on course to finish third at the Bahrain Grand Prix but suffered an engine failure in the closing laps, handing Red Bull’s Alexander Albon the podium.

Perez’s only realistic option for 2021 is a switch to Red Bull and he believes his retirement in Bahrain won’t hamper his chances in securing the seat.

“No I think performance is important, but although I missed the podium I don’t think it’s one race that makes the difference,” Perez added. “I’ve been here ten years and over the years I have delivered so people know what I can and what I cannot do. So I don’t think one race changes the history of that.”