Rosberg comments on Perez - Red Bull saga: "He wants his money"
F1 News
Nico Rosberg and Martin Brundle have commented on the precarious situation the Mexican driver, Sergio Perez, is in with Red Bull. While the German thinks that “Checo” ‘wants his [contract rescission] money’, and Brundle stated that the Red Bull driver “has lost his mojo”.
Saturdays have not been Sergio Perez’s cup of tea for a while now. In a Abu Dhabi this was no different. While Verstappen was able to go up to P5, even with a scruffy final corner that saw him leave a lop of lap time on the table during his first Q3 run, the Mexican was beaten by Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) and Valtteri Bottas (Stake F1 Team) aboard their difficult F1 cars. Nico Rosberg described Perez’s situation as a mystery even, wondering how the Mexican has lost his form “so extremely.”
Is Perez holding on to his contract in order to cash in?
In Sky Sport’s coverage of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Qualifying session, the former World Champion elaborated: "He’s just so far back. He struggles to get within six-seven tenths of Max, which is huge in F1,” which according to him is the reason why the paddock cannot stop pointing to Perez’s Red Bull exit after the race tomorrow.
However, Rosberg thinks that there’s a reason why the Mexican driver is holding on to his Red Bull 2025 contract: “We’ve heard rumours it’s around 16-million in play. So, he wants his money at least, and he’s not going to go away that easily”, even suggesting that “there’s a bit of lawyer discussions going on at the moment," between Red Bull Racing and Perez.
Brundle: "Perez is in purgatory"
Martin Brundle comments on Perez’s situation, but he does fully aware that it must not be a nice position for the Mexican to be in, comparing him to another - former - Red Bull driver, the recently ousted Daniel Ricciardo.
"I feel the same way about Sergio Perez as I did about Daniel Ricciardo. I have utmost respect for the person and the driver and the victories he's had, some of the great overtakes, and all of the great things we have seen Sergio do”, before adding: “I'll be slightly relieved when it's over. It must be purgatory for him at the moment”.
Why is Perez struggling so behind the wheel of his RB20? Brundle shares his thoughts: "He's lost his mojo, he's lost his way and all of the pressure that is being heaped on that, to turn out at the track every day must be painful", the British Sky Sports commentator concluded.