Perez: "I thought: 'I should go home and live a normal life'"

Sergio Perez had an eventful 2020, in which he was unexpectedly dropped from the Racing Point team, became infected with the coronavirus, won a race, and was contracted by Red Bull Racing.

So for him, it ended well, but he went through some challenges. You have to be mentally pretty strong to keep going and to keep focused.

Perez thought Formula 1 was too far away

According to Perez himself, this is something he learned a long time ago. At one time he was living in a room above his Formula BMW team owner's restaurant in Germany when he considered quitting several times.

"When I moved to Germany I thought 'Wow, there are two Formula 1 Grands Prix here, I'm going to make friends with all the drivers and have a lot of fun'. Once there, I realized how different my expectations were from reality," Perez told Red Bull's Talking Bull podcast.

"I was living in a very small town, with a culture that was very different from Mexico. Suddenly I noticed that I was alone. I often thought, 'Formula 1 is too far away, I'd better go home and live a normal life'. My family convinced me to stay; my determination did the rest," Perez said.