'Paid back with betrayal' - Sergio Perez father lashes out at son's former team

Sergio Perez's father, Antonio Perez Garibay, has hit out at one of his son's former F1 teams, claiming it betrayed the 35-year-old racing driver.

Having left Red Bull at the end of last season, the six-time grand prix winner, who is affectionately nicknamed 'Checo', is taking a year away from the championship.

After joining the team in 2021, the final year of the previous regulations cycle, as the Milton Keynes squad developed its car towards lead driver Max Verstappen through the current ground-effects era, Perez increasingly struggled.

Those difficulties reached an apex last season, when his lack of form contributed to the six-time constructors' champions slipping from first to third in the standings, despite his Dutch team-mate winning the drivers' title by 63 points.

When asked on a recent episode of the Formula de Dos podcast whether his son was ultimately pushed out the door at Red Bull, Perez Garibay denied that was the case.

"No, I think it was a shared decision, because there was a contract," he explained. "And the deadline was very close for both parties. And I don't think it would have been good to file a lawsuit. I think you have to be grateful.

The 65-year-old added: "It's good that they ended on a good note. And if you ask me, I think he is grateful to Red Bull."

Having made his F1 debut for Sauber in 2011, Perez went on to race for McLaren and Force India/Racing Point, before losing his seat at the latter at the end of 2020, with Sebastian Vettel preferred as the team changed again into Aston Martin. That is when Red Bull swooped in to save the day.

And whilst he is believed to be engaged in talks with Cadillac to return to the grid in 2026 as one of the American team's two drivers in its first campaign, his treatment by an ex-employeer is still weighing on the mind of his father.

Speaking about Racing Point and how Perez stepped in to prevent its previous guise, Force India, folding in 2018, his father underlined what he felt was disloyalty from a team that fell into dire straits - and briefly administration.

"I remember Checo saved the team when it went bankrupt," he stated. "But then they paid him back with this betrayal.

"Then you say: 'wow.' All sorts of things happened to Checo along the way, to eventually become Checo Perez as we know him today."