Retirement Was Never An Option Says Perez After Scratchy 2023 Season
F1Tuesday, 05 December 2023 at 12:00
Red Bull Racing driver Sergio Perez commented on his mindset during the difficult period he faced in the middle of the 2023 season.
Sergio Perez started the 2023 season at an equal pace with Verstappen and lacked only five points on the Dutchman after the fourth race of the season in Azerbaijan.
However, the Mexican F1 driver went from competing for the Championship to competing for survival in his team as he struggled with bad qualifying results that always set him back for the race and lacked a lot of pace compared to his teammate in general. As reported by Motorsport Italy, Perez said:
"Retirement would have been the easy path because it was very hard at times. But I'm not the type of person who, at this point in my career, gives up and wants to end my career this way. I never thought about doing that."
The goal his team had for Perez was to finish second in the Drivers' Championship. Despite being under pressure from Lewis Hamilton, the Mexican managed to seal the Championship place in Las Vegas.
"I am aware of the responsibilities I have and I am not the type of person who blames the people around me for the results I have achieved. At the end of the day I took my responsibilities and I had to turn the situation around quite a lot"
There was much speculation throughout the season about potential substitutes for the 33-year-old. Even very recently, rumors surfaced Daniel Ricciardo could potentially replace Perez at the beginning of 2024. Perez said he never focused on the speculations.
"To be honest, I wasn't thinking about it much. I was more focused on being able to cover the weekends and do them well."
Perez finished the season record-breaking 290 points behind his teammate Max Verstappen. However, he says he does not give up because he still loves what he does and wants to turn things around before 2024.
"Some weekends were so hard that they weren't fun. I'm here because I still love what I do and I'm here because I still have a lot of fun. And that's been my main goal: We have to make sure that things change."
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