Perez opens up on Red Bull contract 'distraction' after tense negotiations

Sergio Perez has revealed the toll that contract negotiations with his Red Bull team had on himself and his team-mates.

The Mexican has endured a tough time on track recently, failing to make it out of Q1 on two straight occasions and retiring from the Canadian Grand Prix.

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One of last season's three race winners, with Verstappen and Carlos Sainz, Perez has been criticised for failing to provide a true title challenge to his team-mate in matching equipment.

The second Red Bull driver talked about the process leading to his new deal in an FIA press conference before the Canadian Grand Prix.

Perez: Contract negotiations were not nice

Speaking in the pre-race weekend press conference, Perez said of his talks with Red Bull: "I think like every negotiation, you always have a process to go through, which is not always really nice to do it in between the races where everything is flat out.

"So it's really nice to get this distraction for the team and for myself out of the way so that we can focus on pure performance. And I think that's the best thing for our team." Adding to his thoughts on the team's future, specifically regarding the upcoming regulation changes in 2026, he added: "Well, I think, like you say, there are some great teams making a lot of progress and we've got to do the same.

"I think it's always great to be part of a set of regulations with the team, you know, when you're changing regulations and you're part of that team, you're already working on that, giving some ideas here and there, and it's something really quite nice to have, to be able to be part of that."

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