Sergio Perez opened up about the dynamic of being a Red Bull driver from his time with the Milton Keynes Formula 1 team.
Perez raced with Red Bull from 2021 through to 2024, helping the team secure Constructors’ championships and helping Max Verstappen achieve his maiden Drivers’ title.
Despite ending the 2021 season with the nickname of the minister of defence, the season started off slowly. In the opening rounds of the season, Perez struggled to find results.
It took five rounds before the Mexican made it onto the podium, finally taking home silverware when he made it onto the top step in Baku. Followed by a consistent flood of podiums after.
Speaking on the Cracks podcast, Perez opened up about how the team pushed him to see a psychologist in those opening rounds.
“As soon as I arrived at Red Bull, in the first races, when I didn’t deliver results, [the team said], ‘What you need is a psychologist, you have to see a psychologist’.”
He lamented that the call had cost £6000 in total and was quick to send the bill to Helmut Marko.
“One day, I arrived at the Red Bull factory, and they told me, ‘Hey, there’s a bill for you’. [It was] £6000 from the psychologist.
“I tell them, ‘Ah, can you send it to Helmut [Marko], he’ll pay it. It was £6000 for one call.
“Then Helmut tells me, ‘Hey, how did it go?’. I told him, ‘Perfect, with this session we’re all set. And that’s how we went on for three years.”
The Mexican went on to find success with Red Bull in the first three seasons, collecting five wins and countless podiums, challenging Max Verstappen for the Drivers’ title in the early stages of the 2023 season, where he finished second.
Perez praised the psychologist’s work and its impact on his ability to deal with the pressure in F1.
“Already cured by the psychologist, the results started to come. Well, the call worked.” He said.
Perez admits to wanting further help amid Red Bull downturn
In 2024, his results fell short again, as he struggled to match Max Verstappen’s pace. In the entire season, Perez took just four podiums, all of which came in the opening rounds of the season.
By the end of the season, Perez, who was sitting eighth in the championship, was released from his Red Bull contract and would be without a seat on the F1 grid for the first time since 2011.
Perez admitted that during the 2024 season, he began to think that he needed help again.
“In the last years, it was so much that I said, ‘Well, maybe I do need help, right? The results aren’t coming.
“I looked for it everywhere, but deep down I knew perfectly well that when you have a car where you’re thinking about what’s going to happen, what it’s going to do, in which corner you’re going to crash, you can’t go fast.
“And on top of that, you have your whole team against you. Publicly, it was very difficult.
“I think only someone very mentally strong can withstand something like that.”
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