Perez nearly quit F1

Sergio Perez has admitted that he was so disillusioned with the sport after he was pushed out by McLaren that he nearly quit.

The Mexican driver had suffered a dramatic rise and fall in his career that it was unsurprising that his head was left spinning.

Perez only joined the McLaren team less than one year earlier after the now 24-year-old had impressed during his time with Sauber.

In 2012 he had stood on the podium three times for Sauber and he was quickly snapped up by McLaren following Lewis Hamilton’s then shock decision to leave McLaren for Mercedes.

Perez had come through the young driver development programme at Ferrari, but had been snubbed by the team with Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo believing it was too early for Perez to make the move into Ferrari. Instead they opted to extend Felipe Massa’s contract.

Many in Formula One at the time believed that Ferrari had missed out on one of F1’s most promising talents, with his move to McLaren an extra blow to the team.

But following a poor season with McLaren the decision to drop Perez came before the season had ended, with the announcement being broken by Perez in October.

‘When the McLaren decision came I was really frustrated with how things went, I said to myself it isn’t for me. I was not willing to just go to anything.

‘I really wanted to find the thing that motivated me to stay in F1 because otherwise I was willing to look for other options. Perez told Autosport Magazine.

By December though Perez had found a new home.

The driver market was very fluid at the end of the 2013 season, with Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado and his reported £30million-a-season in sponsorship from state oil company PDVSA, holding an influence over the market.

Once he joined Lotus, the other parts of the jigsaw fell into place and Perez was delighted to make the move and even more so after he stood on the podium for the first time with his new team in Bahrain.

‘when the Force India came it was a straight forward decision, and we managed to do a deal.’

‘Now that I look back I’m very proud of myself, and now it’s time to look forward. We know in Formula 1 you go from hero to zero. And the opposite way as well.

‘So now it’s time to look forward. I have a very good experience from my time in McLaren and they made me a much better driver.