Red Bull rewards Perez with new deal after Monaco heroics

Red Bull on Tuesday announced it has rewarded Sergio Perez with a fresh two-year deal until 2024, saying the decision to hold onto the most successful Mexican driver in Formula 1 history was "a no-brainer".

Max Verstappen's teammate signed his new contract at Monaco over 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 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, he put 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, Perez was a member of the Ferrari driver academy until 2012, making his F1 debut for Sauber the year before.

He went on to drive for McLaren and Force India－a team he remained with after it 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 grands prix without taking pole position, only snapping that sequence in Saudi Arabia in March.

It was definitely party time in the Perez household last weekend. On top of emerging triumphant in the race regarded as the crown jewel in the F1 calendar and signing a new contract, the 32-year-old also overtook the late Pedro Rodriguez as the most successful Mexican driver in history.

Horner is convinced that in Perez and Verstappen he has a driver pairing that can mine "the biggest prizes in F1".

AFP