Sergio Perez thought about quitting racing "a lot" during "crazy" early years

Red Bull

Perez thought about quitting racing "a lot" during "crazy" early years

Red Bull driver Perez opens up on junior career doubts

Sam Hall

Sunday 7 February 2021 18:00

New Red Bull driver Sergio Perez has revealed he considered quitting motorsport on numerous occasions throughout his junior career.

Perez, who has joined Red Bull for the coming season from Racing Point - now Aston Martin - nearly did not make it to Formula 1 at all.

After moving to Germany in 2005 at the age of 15 to race in Formula BMW, Perez naturally encountered many difficulties in moving to another country on his own and without knowing the language.

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"There were a lot of points where I thought about quitting," said Perez, on the Talking Bull podcast.

"I came to Formula BMW in Germany and they were racing two races with Formula 1 so I thought ‘Great, I’m going to race with Formula 1. I’m going to be friends with all the Formula 1 drivers. It’s going to be a great opportunity. It’s going to be a lot of fun’.

“So I went there and very early on I saw that it was very different. It was very quiet. I was living in a very small village. I left basically my whole childhood behind, my friends, my family.

“Culture-wise it is very different, Germany to Mexico, so all of a sudden I took a plane and I found myself in a different life on my own.

“Many times I thought Formula 1 is far too far, that I should just go back home and be doing more of a normal life.

"But it was the support of my family that kept me there and those two years in Germany, they were very hard from an emotional point of view for myself."

Saying he felt "very lonely" in his early years competing in Europe, Perez added that, as a father now himself, it is "hard" to imagine letting his son leave home as he did.

“I guess, at the time, it was the determination that got me through," he continued.

“Right now, I think about it and it’s hard for me to think - I’m a dad now - to let your son do that.

"My family and my mum, they supported me a lot, especially my dad as well, and the rest of my family. It was a family project.

“People thought we were crazy about it and I think we were, yes.”