Sergio Perez's father makes seemingly homophobic remarks about former F1 driver-turned-pundit

Sergio Perez's father Antonio Perez Garibay made strong remarks regarding former F1 driver and now-pundit, Ralf Schumacher, this week. The Red Bull driver's place in the Austrian team has been under scrutiny for more than a year now, despite him having a contract till 2025.

The 34-year-old's performances alongside Max Verstappen have been inconsistent, hampering Red Bull's chances of winning the constructors' championship.

Schumacher, in a recent interview with Formel1.de, opined that the Milton Keynes-based outfit should look outside its current lineup and replace the six-time race winner.

Following this, Sergio Perez's father made some comments regarding Schumacher while speaking on the Spanish-language ESPN Racing podcast. Some of his remarks regarded the German driver's sexuality. Garibay said,

"They [the media] should at least apologize. There's a driver who was a Formula 1 driver, [turned] journalist. He first stated that Checo was already out of Red Bull. The following week he [Schumacher] came out of the closet.

"I don't know if he was in love with Checo. Do you understand it? There are many strange things. You no longer know if he is a journalist, a woman, a gentleman. But his opinion doesn't matter, not because of Checo Perez, but because of what his [ex-]wife said about him."

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Sergio Perez reveals rejecting teams to continue with Red Bull

Red Bull driver Sergio Perez revealed that earlier this year, he rejected offers from two teams on the grid to continue racing with the Austrian team.

Speaking with GQ, the Mexican driver said he "loved the challenge" of racing with Red Bull, and that being Max Verstappen's teammate was part of that challenge. Perez said,

"I had an opportunity, two opportunities, to change teams. When I looked at it, I thought, I really love the challenge I have at Red Bull. It's a massive challenge being Max's teammate. It's a challenge that basically trains you for all of it. So, I said I want to spend the last part of my career at the top, at the very top, where the pressure, it's full-on."

Addressing rumors of his ext, Perez said they were just "part of the game."

"It's how the sport is. You have one, or two bad races, a lot of negative talk about you, and so on. But it's also something in the culture of the team as well -- with Red Bull. The surrounding talk, the contract talks, and so on. It's just part of the game."

Sergio Perez is currently P8 in the drivers' championship with 151 points in 21 races and five sprints in the 2024 season. He is the only driver from the top four teams to have not won a race this year, though he has stood on the podium four times thus far.