Perez 'couldn't care less' about speculation on F1 future

Sergio Perez says he's keeping his head down and focused on turning around his season, and ignoring the speculation surrounding his future in F1.

A string of five lascklustre race weekends, and especially qualifying sessions, that started in Monaco at the end of May has forced Perez to give up his ambitions of fighting Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen for the 2023 title.

The Mexican, who finished sixth in last Sunday's British Grand Prix, now sits 99 points behind the Dutchman in the Drivers' standings.

But beyond the sheer points deficit, Perez's inability to qualify among the top-ten since Monaco, while at the wheel of the fastest car on the grid, has cast a doubt on his future with Red Bull.

The 33-year-old is contracted to the Milton Keynes-based outfit for 2024, but contracts often hold little weight in F1.

Furthermore, this week's announcement that Red Bull reserve Daniel Ricciardo will replace Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri with immediate effect has been interpreted as a means to gauge the Aussie's ability to revive his career with the objective of possibly replacing Perez at Red Bull Racing next season.

Asked at Silverstone last weekend if he was turning a deaf ear to the rumors, Perez said: "Yeah, fully. I couldn't care less if I'm honest about that.

"I've been in F1 13 years, and I've seen it all. Not worried about any of that. I'm mainly focused on getting my season on track, and making sure I keep enjoying this."

• Read also: De Vries out, Ricciardo in at AlphaTauri!

Both Red Bull team boss Christian Horner and Helmut Marko have publicly voiced their support for Perez and his efforts to get his act together in qualifying.

"Yeah, I have full support from Helmut and Christian," he said. "The whole team is fully backing me, and they know what I can do. They know my potential, and they are fully behind me."

Perez believes there are mitigating circumstances to his disappointing performances in qualifying, but he insists he is sitting down with his engineers and addressing his issues.

"I think it's with my driving, how I'm approaching the Saturdays, how we're doing it as a team, we just have to figure it out," he added.

"The last qualifyings that I've had bad, they've been on changeable conditions, and it's where a lot of detail comes in play.

"So I'm not too concerned, I think we had a great Friday in terms of pace. We just have to sort out the qualifying, and we'll be fine."

And the Red Bull charger is confident that he can revive his form and get his campaign back on track.

"We're making progress, because the pace is there on Sundays," he said. "But it's just the whole weekend overall, we’ve had a few bad weekends.

"But at the end of the day it only matters where we finish in Abu Dhabi. So it's a long season still, and I fully believe that I can get my season back on track."

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