Sergio Perez Commits to Red Bull in 2021, Teams Up with Max Verstappen

Sergio Perez
(Photo : Mark Sutton - Pool/Getty Images) With a surprising finish in Sakhir Grand Prix, Sergio Perez left the Racing Point F1 Team to continue his Formula One journey with the Red Bull for the 2021 season.

With a surprising finish in Sakhir Grand Prix, Sergio Perez left the Racing Point F1 Team to continue his Formula One journey with the Red Bull for the 2021 season.

Perez's arrival to the Red Bull racing team meant the opposite for the British-Thai racer Alex Albon, who will be test and reserve driver for the next season. Perez will be paired with Abu Dhabi Grand Prix winner Max Verstappen.

The 30-year-old racer won the Sakhir Grand Prix in Bahrain but he was released later by the Racing Point to make a room for German racing driver Sebastian Vettel for the next season.

This prompted Sergio Perez to look for a new home where he can continue his journey. It was just this month when he decided to ink with the Red Bull.

"The chance to race for a championship-contending team is something I have been hoping for since I joined F1 and it will be a proud moment to step onto the grid in Red Bull colours," Perez said.

It might be a mystery why Sergio Perez jumped to the Red Bull, but it turned out that he had already hinted about it on his Twitter.

Over the years, the Red Bull had honed many talents including Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel who made big names in Formula One racing.

RELATED ARTICLE: Sergio Perez Wins His First-Ever F1 Grand Prix in Sakhir 

In 2019, Red Bull recruited Alex Albon and Danil Kvyat for a possible campaign in the Toro Rosso. The addition of Pierre Gasly to the team was not proven to be effective, after finding out that Verstappen is the only one who stepped up in the race.

Although the Red Bull perceived Alex Albon to be the perfect replacement for Gasly, Albon came short of the team's expectations and was demoted to the reserve list for 2021.

As time moves, Red Bull is running out of good talents. Gasly returned to Alpha Tauri F1 while his teammate Yuki Tsunoda was still unripe to pursue the Red Bull for the next Formula One season.

With the Racing Point dropping Sergio Perez, the Red Bull announced that the Mexican will be an 'outsider' for 2021. The issue has been bombarded by many speculations ever since.

It turned out that in 2009, Perez penned an agreement with Arden for the GP2 series, which was now rebranded to FIA Formula 2 Championship. At that time, the owner of the team is Christian Horner, the current team principal of Red Bull.

For Horner, the Red Bull could not possibly ignore the role of Perez to the team given his achievement in the second half of 2020.

"He's a very rounded driver now and I think he has an uncanny ability to over-deliver in machinery he has had available to him," Horner told.

Horner continued. "If you look at the amount of podiums and success he's had over the years, I think he will be a good addition to the team. I think it shows again our determination to field a competitive team against Mercedes next year." 

The Red Bull principal thought that letting Albon sit on the reserve was a hard decision for him and for the team. 

For Horner, he wanted Albon to succeed so the team decided to rely on the complete set of data as a basis for the evaluation. But then, he spoke that the decision was obvious when he will compare Albon to Perez.

Perez's teammate Verstappen could not contain his excitement as he looked forward to the Mexican to fight the Mercedes.

Meanwhile, seven-time champion F1 Lewis Hamilton relished the upcoming battle with now-stronger Red Bull. He expected to see an exciting battle with the addition of Sergio Perez in the read squad.

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