Red Bull debunk rumours of Perez’s retirement announcement in Mexico

A striking rumour circulated on the internet on Thursday: it suggested Sergio Perez would leave Red Bull Racing after this season and even hang up his F1 helmet with an announcement coming at his home race in Mexico. According to Red Bull, in a comment to this website, none of it is true.

A detailed message appeared on an online forum from a user who claimed to have spoken to a high-ranking Telmex employee at a dinner party. He claimed that Perez, who is sponsored by the company, had drawn his conclusions and informed Christian Horner and Helmut Marko after the Japanese Grand Prix that he would retire.

GPblog contacted a spokesman for the Austrian racing team who said: "Absolutely not true. It’s a hoax." Perez is still with Red Bull Racing until 2024, and as things stand, the 33-year-old Mexican is contracted to be stepping into the RB20 next year as Max Verstappen's teammate.

Perez goes through a tough phase

At the same time, Perez will know that he needs to perform better in the remaining five Grands Prix in 2023 than his performances in Singapore, Japan and Qatar. In that block of three races (including a sprint race at the Losail International Circuit), only five points were scored by the Red Bull driver. In comparison, Verstappen collected 69 points in the same car.

Perez is in a battle with Lewis Hamilton for second place in the championship. The British Mercedes driver has 30 points to make up, while Fernando Alonso has not quite lost hope of a P2 in the World Championship either. The Aston Martin driver is trailing by 41 points. Perez will, therefore, have to press the accelerator a bit harder in the closing stages of the year than in recent weeks.