Perez explains retaliation to F1 retirement speculation

Sergio Perez has explained his now-infamous use of a clip from The Wolf of Wall Street to disavow the rumour he would announce his retirement from F1 at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

After being granted a reprieve by Red Bull over the summer, the Mexican driver faced - and continues to encounter - intense speculation over his future with the Milton Keynes-based team, and in F1 more generally.

Having been mired by poor and inconsistent form for much of the 2024 F1 season, his position with the reigning constructors' champions looks increasingly untenable, a reality not helped by the likelihood that Perez's lack of performance will ultimately cost his team the title this year.

When Daniel Ricciardo was jettisoned out of RB following the Singapore Grand Prix, it triggered a fresh front of reports that Perez would jump before being pushed and announce his retirement from F1 at his upcoming home grand prix.

However, the 34-year-old had other ideas, posting to social media a clip from the film The Wolf of Wall Street in which Leonardo DiCaprio, playing Jordan Belfort, passionately declares he is "not leaving" his company.

The post went viral, and when asked to explain his thinking behind the reaction, Perez underlined why he felt the need to publicly respond.

"Well, I just felt like it's been every year for the last two years or so that someone creates this rumour," the six-time grand prix winner told media, including RacingNews365.

"Then everyone picks it up, and then all my fans - I was very conscious that there was a lot of people coming to support me at the Mexico City Grand Prix, and they probably might have been expecting something that is not true."

As expected, F1's annual trip to the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez came and went without any such retirement confirmation from the Red Bull driver.

However, despite the lack of clarity on his F1 future, it was a torrid weekend for Perez, in which he endured a cacophony of misfortunate and mistakes, underscoring the root of the very rumour he sought to rebut.

"I felt the need to just say, 'Look...'," he added.

"It's just not correct to spread rumours like this without knowing the facts."