Sergio Perez details staggering psychologist fee covered by Helmut Marko

Sergio Perez has revealed that Helmut Marko hired a £6,000-an-hour psychologist to work with him during his time with Red Bull.

It appears the Austrian also picked up the bill, as opposed to the Milton Keynes-based team, as suggested by the now-Cadillac F1 driver.

Whilst Perez was ultimately relieved of his duties at the end of the 2024 season, despite holding a contract for the next campaign, he did initially appear to be the solution to the second driver problems that had plagued Red Bull since Daniel Ricciardo left for Renault at the end of 2018.

But, according to the driver himself, that only came after some therapy. Perez joined the six-time constructors' champions for 2021, and when results did not immediately go his way, the team intervened.

"As soon as I arrived at Red Bull, in the first races when I didn’t get results, [I was told]: 'What you need is a psychologist. You have to see a psychologist'," Perez said on the Cracks Podcast.

"I was open to everything, of course. So I talk to the psychologist and say: 'Hey, call me Sergio Perez', 'blah blah blah' from an English guy. I say: 'Hey, today I don’t have time for a session, but let’s talk, look for a time. Perfect.'

"And one day he arrives at the Red Bull factory and says: 'Hey, there’s a bill for you' — for six thousand pounds from the psychologist. 'Can you send it to Helmut, please? He’ll pay it'."

Although he started his tenure with mainly fourth and fifth-placed results, he won for Red Bull at the sixth time of asking, ending the campaign with a further four podium finishes.

However, Perez evidently still cannot get over the cost, even if he was not the one footing the bill.

"It was six thousand pounds for one call!" he exclaimed. "So Helmut says: 'Hey, how did it go with...? Perfect, with this session we’re good'. And that’s how we lasted 3 years, cured with the psychologist."

"Results started coming... in the end, the call worked. And then in the last years it was so much that I’d say: 'Well, maybe I do need help — no results coming'."

Championed for his exploits during the 2021 season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, where he put on a defensive masterclass against Lewis Hamilton in aid of team-mate Max Verstappen, Perez performed solidly until a first real wobble in 2023.

When his loss of form reappeared the following year, Red Bull felt it had to act. But to Perez, the issues he was, by that stage, experiencing with the car, could not be remedied by therapy alone.

He added: "I looked everywhere, but deep down I knew perfectly that when you have a car where you’re thinking what will happen, what it will do, in which corner you’ll crash, you can’t go fast."