Sergio Perez has admitted Red Bull’s call to drop him proved to be “a dream scenario” as a tough time with the team had made him feel “demotivated” with Formula 1.
Perez lost his place with Red Bull once the previous season concluded, but he will return to the grid in 2025 as he partners Valtteri Bottas in the all-new Cadillac team.
The Mexican had been Max Verstappen’s team-mate at Red Bull since 2021, during which time he registered five race wins and contributed to two Constructors’ titles.
However, a tumultuous campaign last time around – in which he ended up winless and a comprehensive 285 points behind Verstappen – prompted Red Bull to cut ties.
Having spent the current season on the sidelines, Perez has now accepted that the break has transpired to be a good thing amid the mental battering he took in 2024.
“I didn’t feel at the time [but I needed the break],” Perez told the official F1 website.
“When you are in the sport, you are carried away with the fact that you are always thinking about your next year, your next race, your next contract. It’s like you are in automatic mode.
“But once you are forced to step out of it like I was, you realise a lot of things and you see the sport different.
“In the beginning, the first couple of months were great. I realised that I missed [F1] because I kept following it. I kept waking up for the races.
“I could see what was happening – I was talking to friends that were in the paddock, and I realised that probably I missed it more than I thought.
“And then when the conversation started with Cadillac and we could see that passion for racing, then, yeah, I felt like I still have something left in me.
“Now that I look back, it was like a dream scenario, being able to take a year out and then get that refreshment.
“After 15 years or so in Formula 1 to get that refreshment and then have all the energy again for what I see as my final stint in the sport.
“I have all the energy now to get back to it, to work with the team, to push the team forwards in all areas, on the simulator. It’s a new team so we’re starting basically from zero.”
Perez views Cadillac venture as last chapter in F1
Perez, whose comeback preparations continued with a run in a blacked-out Ferrari SF-23 at Imola, has divulged that he sees Cadillac as his final venture in the sport.
“You have to remember that my last six months at Red Bull were very difficult for myself in all areas,” he recalled.
“I started to have a bit of demotivation with the sport and I cannot let that happen because this is a sport that gave me everything.
“The day that I leave the sport, I want to leave it with a big smile and a lot of respect because the sport has given me everything.
“I see this [Cadillac] as my main, big, final project in the sport and I want to make sure that I make it a successful comeback.”
READ MORE – Cadillac makes F1 track debut with Sergio Perez at Imola
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