Perez reveals stunning therapy bill during early days at Red Bull

Sergio Perez has lifted the lid on one of the most eyebrow-raising moments of his career with Red Bull – and it involves a psychologist’s invoice so staggering it still makes him laugh.

In a candid and astonishing revelation, the Mexican driver disclosed that Red Bull once paid an eye-watering £6,000 for a single therapy session as the team searched for answers during his early struggles alongside Max Verstappen.

Perez arrived at Red Bull in 2021 with a reputation as a dependable race winner and problem-solver, drafted in after Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon both faltered in the team’s second seat. But the start was far from smooth.

“As soon as I arrived at Red Bull, in the first races, when I didn’t deliver results, [they told me] ‘What you need is a psychologist, you have to see a psychologist’,” Perez revealed on the Cracks podcast.

So Perez followed instructions – and was promptly stunned.

“One day I arrive at the Red Bull factory and they tell me, ‘Hey, there’s a bill for you’ – £6,000 from the psychologist. I tell them, ‘Ah, can you send it to Helmut [Marko, Red Bull advisor]? He’ll pay it’. It was £6,000 for one call,” he laughed.

What happened next only adds to the surreal nature of the story.

“Then Helmut tells me, ‘Hey, how did it go?’. I tell him, ‘Perfect, with this session we’re all set’. And that’s how we went on for three years, right? Already cured by the psychologist, the results started to come. Well, the call worked.”

And to be fair to Perez, the results did improve. He became a regular podium finisher and a valuable support act during Verstappen’s title runs, even if matching the Dutchman consistently remained out of reach.

When Confidence Collapses

Yet behind the humour lies a darker reality. Perez’s form deteriorated sharply in 2024 as Red Bull’s RB20 proved notoriously difficult to tame, and the pressure intensified both inside and outside the team.

“In the last years, it was so much that I said, ‘Well, maybe I do need help, right? The results aren’t coming’,” he admitted.

Despite searching for solutions, Perez said the core issue wasn’t psychological alone – it was technical and political.

“I looked for it everywhere, but deep down I knew perfectly well that when you have a car where you’re thinking about what’s going to happen, what it's going to do, in which corner you’re going to crash, you can’t go fast,” he explained.

“And on top of that you have your whole team against you. Publicly it was very difficult. I think only someone very mentally strong can withstand something like that.”

Read also:

• Perez: Being faster than Max at Red Bull ‘was a problem’

Perez’s struggles ultimately led to his exit from Red Bull at the end of 2024, closing a chapter defined by flashes of brilliance, relentless comparison to Verstappen – and one unforgettable therapy bill.

Now 36 and refreshed after sitting out the 2025 season, Perez is preparing for a new beginning.

This year, he returns to Formula 1 with the Cadillac project, armed with experience, perspective – and perhaps proof that even a £6,000 phone call can’t fix everything in Formula 1.

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