Perez hits back at latest F1 retirement rumours

Sergio Perez has hit reverse gear on swirling rumours about his future in Formula 1.

With Daniel Ricciardo expected to be dropped from the lineup of the junior team RB with immediate effect, a new rumour about Perez at the main Red Bull Racing outfit also did the rounds in Singapore.

"This is the first time I’ve heard of this," Red Bull F1 consultant Dr Helmut Marko smiled when asked about the rumour that Perez, 34, might retire from F1 at the end of the 2024 season.

"But his wife is expecting their fourth child," Marko mused to Kleine Zeitung newspaper. "An interesting alternative."

However, the Mexican driver says he’s going nowhere.

"It’s a tough calendar, 24 races a year, but I will be in Formula 1 for at least another two years," Perez told the Spanish sports daily Marca.

"I don’t think I will be here for a very long time. My contract is for two years, which is a long time in Formula 1, but I know the end is getting closer.

"I admire Fernando Alonso and what he does at his age (43), but I don’t think I’ll race for as long as he has. It’s not that I don’t like it, it’s that I have small children and I want to spend much more time with them."

It is believed Perez actually already has four children - all of them under 7 years of age.

When asked about retirement, Perez admitted: "I’ve been thinking about it for the last six months, but it took me three seconds to make the decision.

"In the end, after so many years, it would have been the easiest step to take - to walk away and kind of give up. But I would never have forgiven myself if I had done that.

"It’s been a tough year. It was tough to have a car with some limitations and not be able to say anything because your teammate was winning. Max (Verstappen) was driving really well and the gap between us was getting bigger every time."

That gap is now closing, as Red Bull’s car handling problems became ever more obvious, and Perez insists he does not want to be pushed away from the grid.

"I want to retire when I decide, not when someone tells me," he confirms. "That’s my main goal - to decide my future myself.

"In the end, people forget about the contract. I just signed the contract. People talk a lot about everything, but I wasn’t worried because I knew the situation."