Perez says Aston Martin exit proved F1 has no loyalty

Sergio Perez says being dropped before Racing Point became Aston Martin, despite helping save the team and holding a long-term deal, was the moment he realised there is “no loyalty” in Formula 1.

Speaking on the High Performance Podcast, Perez said he expected to be part of Aston Martin’s new era after playing a central role in Force India’s survival during its 2018 financial crisis. Perez helped trigger the insolvency process that prevented the team from being wound up, a step that opened the way for a Lawrence Stroll-led consortium to buy it. The team was then rebranded as Racing Point for 2019 before becoming Aston Martin in 2021.

Perez said he believed his own future was tied to that project. He said he had “a three-year contract” with “options in it” and thought he would remain there “together with Lawrence and Lance.” He added that he had spent most of his career with the team and expected to stay for the long term.

That changed when Sebastian Vettel became available after leaving Ferrari. Perez said he understood immediately why the market had shifted against him.

“But then obviously Sebastian came available. A four-time world champion became available, and I understood this is how the sport works,” Perez said. “I knew that he was going to be a great interest for Lawrence.”

Perez said the team did not renew his option and chose Vettel instead. “I was like, ‘Look, there is no loyalty in this sport,’” he said.

He made clear, though, that he did not carry the episode as a personal grudge. Perez said he still has “a great relationship with all the people in Aston” and accepted Vettel’s arrival as the kind of decision Formula 1 teams make when a four-time world champion is on the market.

What mattered most for Perez was what followed. He said the setback forced him to focus only on performance, because that was the one part he could still control. “So I said, ‘Look, now what can I do?’ I just focused on what I could do, which is perform on track, see what happens,” he said.

That response changed the course of his career. Perez took his first Formula 1 win at the Sakhir Grand Prix late in 2020, a result he said led directly to Red Bull calling with a seat for 2021.

The irony, Perez said, was that Red Bull was the one team he never expected to join. “The only team I thought that I was never going to drive for was Red Bull, because they always have their academy drivers,” he said. “So I end up driving for Red Bull.”