Perez ‘couldn’t care less’ about speculation surrounding Red Bull F1 seat

Perez’s recent qualifying struggles and dip in form has fuelled speculation that reserve driver Daniel Ricciardo is being evaluated for the Mexican’s Red Bull seat next season. 

But Red Bull boss Christian Horner has insisted that a full-time race seat return for Ricciardo is not part of team’s plan, with Perez under contract until the end of 2024. 

Instead, Ricciardo, who will drive the RB19 as part of a tyre test at Silverstone on Tuesday, is thought to be a contender to replace the under-pressure Nyck de Vries at Red Bull’s sister team AlphaTauri next year. 

Asked about the rumours surrounding his future after the British Grand Prix, Perez declared: “I couldn't care less if I'm honest about that. In F1 in 13 years I've seen it all. 

“[I'm] not worried about any of that, I'm mainly focused about getting my season back on track and making sure I keep enjoying this.

“I have full support from Helmut [Marko] and Christian [Horner], the whole team is fully supporting me, they know what I can do, they know my potential, and they are fully behind me.”

Perez, who has now fallen 99 points behind Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen in the championship, recovered to sixth in Sunday’s race at Silverstone after failing to make it into Q3 for the fifth consecutive race. 

“I think it’s just amount of detail, I have become a little bit more sensitive to the car in the last few races, especially on a Saturday, on low fuel, something that I’m going to be working on from tomorrow in the simulator with the team,” he said of his qualifying rut. 

“We have some ideas, but we operate in such a small window of detail that, yeah, I mean, you know, just that we need a strong Saturday and the positive thing is the pace is there on Sundays where the points are given but we have to sort out and have a clean weekend because the pace is there.”

Horner has publicly backed Perez to end his downward spiral at the upcoming Hungarian Grand Prix.