Perez knew before the summer break that Red Bull wanted to continue with him

Sergio Perez's contract extension was made public last Thursday, but the Mexican had already known about his longer stay at Red Bull Racing. That revealed the veteran in conversation with Motorsport.com during the Belgian weekend. Perez reportedly signed for one year, until the 2022 season.

"I already knew what I was going to do when I started the summer break," Perez reveals. "But after that, of course, everyone went on holiday, so it took a bit longer to actually sort it out. I signed on Friday when everyone was back, but we agreed a long time ago."

Good news from Marko and Horner

So Max Verstappen will get Perez as his teammate next year, just like this year. The good news came via Helmut Marko and Christian Horner. "It was already a few races ago when Helmut and Christian told me that they wanted to keep me and that I didn't have to look for another seat. They wanted to continue with me and vice versa, so it was clear from both sides that we wanted to continue with each other", he explains.

Next season, new rules will be introduced in Formula 1. The pecking order of the grid may also change, although it is expected that the current top teams will continue to dominate in 2022. Perez has the advantage that he can now be involved in the development of the RB17. Last year this was not possible because Red Bull chose the current number five of the world championship at a very late stage.