PARIS —
Red Bull on Tuesday announced they have rewarded Sergio Perez with a fresh
two-year deal until 2024, saying the decision to hold on to the most successful
Mexican driver in Formula One history was “a no brainer”.
اضافة اعلان
Max Verstappen’s
teammate signed his new contract at Monaco at the weekend to give him double
cause for celebration after he emerged from all the chaos caused by a pre-race
deluge to win the iconic Grand Prix.
“For us, holding
onto his pace, race craft and experience was a no-brainer and we are delighted
that Checo will continue to race for the team until 2024,” team boss
Christian Horner said.
Perez, 32, moved
to within 15 points of world champion Verstappen and only nine behind Ferrari’s
Charles Leclerc in the drivers’ standings after rising above all the mayhem on
Sunday, that fine win coming after three second-place finishes.
Perez said: “For
me, this has been an incredible week, winning the Monaco Grand Prix is a dream
for any driver, and then to follow that with announcing I will continue with
the team until 2024 just makes me extremely happy.”
He joined Red
Bull last season, claiming a win on another street circuit in Azerbaijan with
four further podiums to finish fourth behind his Dutch colleague.
In his
statement, Horner noted the popular Perez had done a “fantastic” job and
stepped up a gear in his second year with the team.
“Time and again
he has proved himself to not only be a magnificent team player but as his level
of comfort has grown he has become a real force to be reckoned with at the
sharp end of the grid,” Horner remarked.
“This year he
has taken another step and the gap to world champion Max has closed
significantly, evidenced by his superb pole position in Jeddah earlier this
year and by his wonderful win in Monaco just last weekend.”
This is not the
first time Perez has had reason to be happy on two fronts after a
Grand Prix win.
Milestone moment
At the back end of the 2020 season, with his seat at Racing Point
already assigned to Sebastian Vettel, he ended the invidious record of 190
starts without a race win in
Bahrain at the Sakhir Grand Prix.
Shortly after
this milestone moment, he was putting pen to paper on his first Red Bull
contract to put a far rosier complexion on a week where his future in F1 had
looked bleak with his Racing Point contract ending in Abu Dhabi the following
Sunday.
Born in
Guadalajara he was a member of the Ferrari driver academy until 2012, making
his F1 debut for Sauber the year before. He would go on to drive for McLaren,
Force India, and remained with them after the team went bankrupt as Racing
Point.
As well as the longest
streak without a win, he also holds another record not to tell the
grandchildren about - he competed in 215 Grand Prix without taking pole
position, only snapping that sequence in
Saudi Arabia in March.
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