Juan Pablo Montoya believes Sergio Perez can\u2019t complain too much about his time at Red Bull, given the opportunities possible for him.<\/p>\n
Sergio Perez recently spoke about his difficult final year at Red Bull, the difficulties in being teammate to Max Verstappen, and that \u201ceverything was a problem\u201d whether he was faster or slower than the Dutch driver.<\/p>\n
What did Sergio Perez say?<\/p>\n
Perez returns to Formula 1 with Cadillac this year, having sat out 2025 after Red Bull paid him off to leave the team after a difficult \u201924 season.<\/p>\n
During an extensive conversation with the Oso Trava podcast, Perez claimed that then-team boss Christian Horner had held an early conversation with him in which the dynamic of the team was directly communicated.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis project is for Max. It\u2019s Red Bull,\u201d Perez said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I first sat down with Christian, he said to me, \u2018Look, we\u2019ll race with two cars, because we have to, but this project was created for Max. Max is our talent\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like if Carlos Slim makes a team and I\u2019m his driver, and you hire a Dutchman, then. It\u2019s exactly the same thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what I was getting at, and I was very much aware.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told him, \u2018It doesn\u2019t matter. I\u2019m on this team. I\u2019m going to develop the car. I\u2019m going to support the car. I\u2019m going to support the team\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perez went on to say that the upgrade direction of the 2022 car meant the RB18 became \u201cuncontrollable\u201d for him and that, later on in his tenure, his performances left Red Bull complaining about \u201cpractically everything\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause you\u2019re not concentrated, because you\u2019re doing too many commercials, or because you\u2019re busy with other things,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt Red Bull, absolutely everything was a problem. If you were too quick, that would become a problem. Clearly, it created a very, very tense atmosphere at Red Bull.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I were faster than Max, it was always a problem. If I were slower than Max, it was also a problem. So, everything became a problem!\u201d<\/p>\n
Juan Pablo Montoya: Red Bull gave Sergio Perez a very high status<\/p>\n
Speaking on the MontoyAS podcast, former Williams and McLaren F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya reflected on the situation and said Perez was fully aware of the dynamic of the team he was entering.<\/p>\n
Perez first signed with Red Bull in late 2020, having lost his seat with the Racing Point squad for \u201921. However, his first win in Formula 1 came in Bahrain at the end of that season and helped tip the scales in his favour to be chosen ahead of Nico Hulkenberg for the seat alongside Verstappen for \u201921.<\/p>\n
\u201cCheco [Perez] himself says it in the interview, \u2018I knew what I was getting into and at the time I didn\u2019t really have any other choice\u2019, because that was his option to stay in Formula 1,\u201d Montoya said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike it or not, Checo has six wins, five of which came with Red Bull.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you look at it as a Mexican, a fan of Checo, you\u2019re going to say \u2018Yes, but Red Bull was very unfair\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut as Checo says, he knew what he was getting into, and, unfair or not, he gave the country five wins; Red Bull gave him five wins. So how much can they complain?<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you understand me, they can complain in the end because ultimately that car was unmanageable, but they had a lot of very good things there, and they gave him very good things.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, when Checo was comfortable in the car, he did a very good job. I think one of the debates I saw a lot, which people also discussed a lot on social media, was that\u2026 if they were clear about who the first driver is, the car was designed for Max \u2013 that was always said \u2013 but, if all these things were happening and if the situation with Red Bull was no longer going so well, why renew with Red Bull? Because you want to win races.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like being told, you\u2019re going to be McLaren\u2019s number two, \u2018you have to give everything to Lando\u2019. There will be weeks when Lando crashes or something happens to him, and you can win races.<\/p>\n
\u201cRealistically, it\u2019s not a decision. What are you going to do? Is that it, or are you going to go to Alpine? Look at 2025, I mean, would you rather be number two at Red Bull or McLaren, or number one at Alpine in 2025?\u201d<\/p>\n
Juan Pablo Montoya: Sergio Perez\u2019s image completely changed at Red Bull<\/p>\n
Just seven races after his maiden win in F1, the experienced Perez won his first race for Red Bull by taking victory at the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. With multiple other podium finishes and a disruptive drive in Abu Dhabi that earned him the colloquial title of the \u2018Mexican Minister of Defence\u2019 after helping Verstappen\u2019s successful title quest, Perez\u2019s career momentum had fully recovered by the end of 2021.<\/p>\n
While that momentum did ebb away through the ground-effect regulations, Perez had been an initially strong and capable support for Verstappen.<\/p>\n
This turnaround in his image, having come dangerously close to his career stuttering to a halt after 2020, was all down to Red Bull, according to Montoya.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, people are going to complain and everything, but if you look at it from the outside, Red Bull really gave Checo a very high status. Especially outside of Mexico,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithin Mexico, too, of course, because he won races and everything, but I think that before, many people didn\u2019t value or appreciate his talent.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow I saw Checo before he joined Red Bull, how I saw him afterwards with his victories and what he did at Red Bull and how he helped Max win the title in 2021, it\u2019s a totally different image.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you ask yourself how many people would remember Checo\u2019s time in Formula 1 in 2020, if he had ended his Formula 1 career at that point, how many people remember him after Red Bull? Well, obviously, Checo will be remembered much more. Totally.\u201d<\/p>\n
With Perez able to continue his career and rebuild to the point where his proven ability and experience has secured him a comeback with Cadillac in 2026, Montoya said it can be very easy to be quickly forgotten \u2013 a situation that didn\u2019t happen to Perez due to his Red Bull tenure.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook at how sad Formula 1 is. No one even thinks about Yuki [Tsunoda] anymore. And it hasn\u2019t even been a month since the last race. A little more than a month and a week,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, Yuki isn\u2019t even on anyone\u2019s radar anymore. It happened with [Jack]Doohan at the time; people forgot about him as soon as they [Alpine] took him out.<\/p>\n
\u201cNyck de Vries\u2026 how many have come and gone without pain or glory? Exactly. So, from that point of view, the reality of this sport is very complicated.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne day you\u2019re a hero, and the next you\u2019re a zero, so when you\u2019re a hero, you have to take advantage of it, and if you\u2019re in a winning car, you have to try to win races and give yourself the best chance you can. And that\u2019s it, that\u2019s how it is.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to work hard, and I think what will be different is what Checo\u2019s fans expect this year, because nobody really knows, I don\u2019t think anyone knows how competitive they\u2019re going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n