Sergio Perez will spend at least one more season with Red Bull Racing after receiving a one-year contract extension during the Belgian GP weekend.
“It’s good to waste zero energy on that,” Perez said at Formula1.com. “Knowing what I’m doing next year and just focus on this season.”
Perez will once again team with Max Verstappen, who is embroiled in a battle with Lewis Hamilton for the 2020 Drivers Championship
And while Perez is currently 91 points out of first and 83 behind second-place Verstappen, the battle for third in the standings is tight. Lando Norris currently holds the spot with 113 points. Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate, Valtteri Bottas, is five markers behind Norris. Perez is four more points down in fifth having earned 104 points. That is nearly double the production of Alexander Albon, the driver he replaced, at this stage of 2020.
“I’m really happy to be continuing with a great team like Red Bull into the new era of Formula 1 and it’s a great opportunity for me,” Perez said. “Everyone starts from zero next year with the new regulations, so my only goal is to go all the way to the top with Red Bull.”
But to make a charge at third in the 2020 standings, Perez will need to reverse a recent trend in which he has failed to score points in his last two races. A decision to pit late at Silverstone cost him a possible points’ paying effort and he crashed on the opening lap in Hungary.
Already aware that he would not rejoin Racing Point last year, Perez scored his first Formula 1 victory in the Bahrain GP.
He earned scored a second win this June after Verstappen cut a tire late in the Azerbaijan GP and crashed heavily.
With the contract extension, Red Bull is scheduled to start the 2021 season with the same driver lineup for two consecutive years – the first time they have done so since 2018.
“We have so much more to achieve together and we still have a great challenge on our hands this season so I really hope we can finish the year on a high and carry that momentum into 2022,” Perez said.
