Perez says Red Bull exit turned toxic

Sergio Perez says the final six months of his Red Bull spell became "very, very tough" and "toxic," with the team built so heavily around Max Verstappen that he felt isolated and ready to step away from Formula 1.

Speaking on the High Performance podcast after returning to the grid with Cadillac, Perez said the strain had reached a point where even a driver who considered himself mentally strong needed to get out. "My last six months at Red Bull were very tough, even for me, when mentally I feel very strong," he said. "They were very, very tough, and I would say toxic, and I really wanted a break. So the year out came at the perfect time."

Perez said the atmosphere inside Red Bull was warped by the team’s own dominance. "The pressure on everyone internally... We had too much success. So people got bored, and they were fighting each other," he said, while still describing the overall period as "four fantastic years."

A central part of that experience, Perez said, was understanding from the start that he would never be anything other than Verstappen’s support act. He said Christian Horner and Helmut Marko were pleased when he won races, but made clear that "the entire project was centered on Max." Perez said he accepted that reality and tried to make the most of it, but added that he was "completely alone" in a system he felt "destroyed" him.

That account recasts a four-year partnership that also delivered major results. Perez raced alongside Verstappen from 2021 and helped Red Bull secure constructors’ championships in 2022 and 2023, while Verstappen collected four straight drivers’ titles in the same period.

Perez said the fallout from that ending was serious enough that he was unsure he would race in F1 again. "When I left F1, I really thought it could be it, and I was ready for it," he said. "I’m very grateful, I wouldn’t come back at any cost." After sitting out 2025, he returned for 2026 with Cadillac, where he is racing alongside Valtteri Bottas.