Perez on coronavirus: 'I thought the racing was over for me'

Sergio Perez was the first driver who came into contact with the coronavirus last year. In an interview with Formula 1 Perez talks about his experience when he contracted the virus and his thoughts on it now.

Perez was not having a very stable Formula 1 season when he contracted the coronavirus. He was the first to contract the virus and bore the brunt of it, especially since at the time there didn't seem to be many options for the driver to keep his seat or get another one for the coming season.

"Formula 1 thought we could withstand it. For me it was a difficult period because I was criticised a lot. It was also at a critical point in my career. I had to sit in the car because I would lose the ability to drive. I ended up losing the ability to drive and that was very late in the year, when there were very few opportunities left. I thought it wasn't going to happen again and just wanted to move on."

Perez had other options than Red Bull

Perez eventually lost his seat, but had other options to work somewhere else. He just didn't see those options as very promising, until Red Bull approached him. The invitation from Red Bull was one that motivated him to keep racing in 2021 and not wait until 2022, where he also had opportunities for a seat at other teams.

"I thought, if I'm not there in 2021, I won't stop, I'll wait a year. Then in 2022 I will return. Then Red Bull got very serious and that worked out great."

Perez is very happy with the opportunity Red Bull gave him as he has shown more than once. He is also happy to have Max Verstappen as his colleague and thinks the two are very evenly matched. The Mexican even outperformed Verstappen in last week's testing, so that bodes well for next year's Formula 1 season.