"As a driver you want certainty" - Sergio Perez feels signing new Red Bull contract gets the 'stress out of the way'

Sergio Perez, who recently signed a two-year contract extension with Red Bull, revealed that the new deal gives him a certain level of "certainty." This will, in turn, allow him to focus entirely on racing rather than on stressing out about his future in the sport.

When asked about his mindset now that his seat is secure for another two seasons, the Mexican said:

“Yeah, I certainly feel that as a driver you want certainty. And you want to get that stress out of the way. So the earlier the better. It takes so much so much energy and so much focus to be at 100% weekend by weekend that you don’t need that thinking you know. So it was good that we agreed so early on the contract. And yeah, I feel like I’ve got a good opportunity. So the season is still very young, so anything can still happen from now.”

Perez secured the third race win of his F1 career in Monaco two weeks ago, which arguably put him in the mix for the title this season alongside Charles Leclerc and teammate Max Verstappen. The 32-year-old has had some good results in Baku, including a win last season and a podium back in 2018, setting him up for a positive weekend.

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Red Bull boss reveals it was a "no brainer" to bring Sergio Perez on board for the 2021 season

Speaking about the team's decision to offer Sergio Perez a seat for the 2021 season, Christian Horner revealed that Perez's performance in 2020, especially the brilliant win from the back of the grid in Bahrain, made it an easy decision.

As reported by PlanetF1, Horner said:

“He drove such a great season [in] 2020 that he made it very hard for us to ignore his performance and he kept banging on my door and, you know, pushing himself, pushing, pushing, and in the end after he won that race in Bahrain, it was a no brainer. Now he’s grabbed this opportunity with both hands and I think that you know, arguably it was too soon for Pierre [Gasly], it was too soon for Alex [Albon] to step into that seat in a Red Bull Racing car. But you know, they’ve still got the opportunity to further their careers and Checo has proved that it’s never too late to come back.”

With a new deal for Sergio Perez, Pierre Gasly has once again missed out on the opportunity to secure a set at Red Bull. It will be interesting to see where Gasly finds himself in the next few years.

Catch Red Bull at the Azerbaijan GP on Sunday, June 12, 2022.