The second seat at Red Bull Racing has long been considered a career-ender in Formula 1 – a pressure-cooker where otherwise excellent drivers see their reputations dismantled alongside Max Verstappen.
Yet, looking back at his tumultuous four-year tenure that ended with his departure at the conclusion of 2024, Sergio Perez views his time with the Milton Keynes squad through a completely different lens.
Now 36 and spearheading Cadillac’s fresh entry into the sport, the veteran Mexican driver feels vindicated by the chaos that unfolded after he walked out the door.
While his final year was marred by regular Q1 exits and a painful slide to eighth in the standings, Perez insists that history will look kindly on what he actually managed to achieve in an environment entirely rigged against him.
A one-car operation
When Perez arrived at Red Bull in 2021, he was under no illusions about who the team belonged to. The machinery, the culture, and the development path had been meticulously molded around Verstappen for years.
In fact, team principal Christian Horner made the team's philosophical hierarchy blunt from their very first meeting.
“It was great. I would say that it was fantastic,” he recalled, speaking on the High Performance Podcast.
“I knew that I was going into Red Bull, into a project that was built for Max over the years. When they signed me up, it was very clear, I knew what I’d signed up for.
“First time I met Christian, he told me, ‘I mean, we go racing with two cars because we have to, otherwise we will be super happy just to race with one car.’ Like, everything is for Max, around Max. We want to win the championship.”
Stepping into that reality meant accepting that the playing field would never be level. Every marginal gain, strategic priority, and structural advantage gravitated naturally toward the Dutchman's side of the garage.
“To face Max at Red Bull is the toughest,” he continued.
“Facing Max on any other team is already really tough, but facing him at Red Bull with his team, his people, is tough and you need the best of the best in all areas, and you just don't have it while he has it, all the opportunities in terms of engineering, senior engineering, experienced engineering.
“You know everything goes to Max, but I knew before I came, and I thought ‘I can either complain or get on with what I’ve got’ and that’s what I did over those four years I was there. I kept my same engineering team, something I’m really proud of.”
Chaos, validation, and vindication
Despite the structural disadvantages, Perez’s tally at Red Bull stands at five Grand Prix victories, a crucial role in securing four drivers' titles for his teammate, and a runner-up spot in the 2023 world championship.
But as the car's handling characteristics grew increasingly unpredictable and sensitive, Perez’s form plummeted, and internal civil war began to tear at the fabric of the team.
Reflecting on his approach to the daunting task of racing alongside Verstappen, Perez explained his early mindset.
“So, instead of me thinking, ‘Oh, why?’ I say, ‘Look, I come here, and I make the most of it in all regards.’ And it’s what I did,” he recounted.
“I went there with the tools available that I had at my expense. I think I overdelivered in all areas over there. It worked out perfectly.
“Of course, it turned out to be there were some very tough times, very tough periods towards the end as well. The pressure and everyone internally. We had too much success, or people got bored, I think, and they were fighting each other, and all the drama around.
“But they were fantastic, four years, I think I overdelivered, and only once I left and they brought in all the other drivers, they realised the job that I’ve done for them for four years.”
Read also: Mekies backs Hadjar’s progress as he follows Verstappen’s lead
That final claim has been backed up by cold numbers. Red Bull’s assumption that Perez’s struggles were entirely his own doing quickly evaporated during the 2025 season. His replacements found the tricky, Verstappen-centric car completely unmanageable.
Liam Lawson's promotion lasted a mere two races before he was dropped, while Yuki Tsunoda scraped together just 30 points across the entire year before facing the axe himself.
With the toxic atmosphere of Milton Keynes firmly behind him, Perez is channeling his energy into his new chapter with Cadillac.
In an environment built to support him rather than tolerate him, the veteran is out to prove that surviving F1's most ruthless garage for four years wasn't a failure – it was a masterclass in resilience.
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