Perez defiant over F1 future as Red Bull talks continue

Sergio Perez is defiant that he is "fully committed" to remaining in Formula 1, even if he has to leave Red Bull.

The Mexican is out of contract at the end of the current season, and is locked in talks with Red Bull's Dr Helmut Marko and team principal Christian Horner over fresh terms.

Marko has indicated that Perez was after a three-year contract, something he was not willing to offer the six-time grand prix winner as multiple candidates vie for the seat alongside Max Verstappen.

However, Perez has enjoyed a strong start to the season with four podiums from five races, with his chances of staying on enhanced after indifferent starts for Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda at RB and Carlos Sainz looking set for a Stake/Audi switch.

Now a veteran of 262 starts, Perez is firm that he intends to stay in F1 long-term.

"Absolutely, 100%, I am fully committed," Perez explained when asked by RacingNews365 of his future plans.

"At the end of the day, I've been in this sport for a long-time, but I am only 34, and when you see drivers carrying on, we see longer careers these days, so I am still very fresh and very motivated.

"I have no doubt, 100% that I will be here next year."

Family links

Perez is one of three fathers on the current grid - the others being Haas pair Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg - and also spoke of the impact of racing on his family, and questioned how long he would be able to enjoy his current motivation levels.

"I don't think that if you were to do this job, you cannot be at 95% for the sake of doing it, especially when you have a family back home," Perez added.

"It is important that when you commit to Formula 1, you are fully committed until your last day, and that is the approach I take: I am fully committed to F1 like when I started.

"It is important to do that for my family, but I just don't know for how long I will be able to have this motivation.

"At some point, there are some priorities out of here, and it is something at some point I will have to consider how long I want to [continue].

"[With the team], it is all about the future, how we both see the future together.

"Obviously, if you as a team and driver have the sae target in mind, it is very easy, especially after so many years.

"We've been together for four years, so I do expect everything will be quite easy going forward."