Former Red Bull Racing Formula One driver Sergio Pérez has made a revelation, stating that Red Bull “regrets” the decision to part ways with him after the 2024 season. He also opened up on the real reason for the team’s drop in performance following a period of historical dominance.
Red Bull enjoyed a period of superiority since the inception of the current ground effect era in 2022, thanks to the aerodynamic expertise of the team’s former chief technical officer, Adrian Newey. 2023 saw the outfit perform at its peak, winning 21 races of the 22 on the F1 calendar.
However, Newey’s exit announcement months after the start of the 2024 season amid Red Bull’s internal turmoil is what caused the team to fall apart, according to Pérez. Though Max Verstappen’s performance allowed him to win his fourth championship at the 2024 round in Las Vegas, Pérez’s ongoing struggles with the RB20 F1 car contributed to Red Bull securing third in the overall championship standings.
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Pérez’s performance slump was highlighted mid-season, courtesy of balance problems on the RB20, which caused a lapse of confidence in the Mexican driver. Red Bull only acknowledged the problem once Verstappen exposed it after the summer break amid McLaren’s resurgence.
After the 2024 season, the Milton Keynes-based team decided to part ways with Pérez, replacing him with Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson. However, the Kiwi driver failed to impress Red Bull after the first two Grands Prix of 2025, resulting in his demotion back to Racing Bulls. Instead, Red Bull promoted Yuki Tsunoda to the seat alongside Verstappen.
Tsunoda, who scored several points for Racing Bulls, found Red Bull’s RB21 F1 car a much tougher challenge, struggling to finish even in the top ten. Among the three drivers Red Bull had in the car, apart from Verstappen, Pérez was the most well-suited. Speaking on the Desde El Paddock podcast, Pérez was asked if he thought Red Bull owed him an apology for his exit. He answered:
“No. They made certain decisions because of the immense pressure—pressure that they themselves helped create.
“But I know, deep down, they regret it. And I know that from a very reliable source.
“Still, what can you do? You move on. It’s tough. I have very good friends there, and people might think I take pleasure in what happened – but no.”
Newey was the mastermind behind the design of Red Bull’s F1 car, but since his departure to Aston Martin as the team’s new managing technical partner and shareholder, Red Bull has struggled to keep the car in its optimal performance window. Pérez believes the problems began after Newey announced his exit last year. He added:
“We had a great team. In the end, it slowly fell apart, but we really did have something special, during one of the most competitive eras in F1.
“We didn’t dominate an era like Mercedes, where they had a massive engine advantage. In our case, the performance gap was minimal, and we still built a powerhouse.
“When Adrian left – that’s when the problems really started.”
