Sergio Perez insists he wasn’t expecting to be dropped by Racing Point before being informed of his exit on Wednesday.
The Mexican’s future was cast into doubt when speculation began linking Sebastian Vettel, his now confirmed replacement, to the team that will be known as Aston Martin from next year.
However, upon returning to the paddock having missed both races at Silverstone due to Covid-19, Perez had been bullish about keeping his seat, claiming he felt “secure”.
“That was the feedback that I was getting, that everything was looking that the team wanted to keep me and so on,” he said, explaining that confidence via RaceFans on Thursday at Mugello.
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“There were some discussions in the background about contracts and so on that I’m not willing to disclose because I think those things should remain between the team and myself. There were a couple of things in the contract that we went through.
“In the end, they just officially told me yesterday that I am not continuing. I didn’t expect that, but it’s how it is.”
Revealing how Racing Point explained their decision, Perez added: “I got a call from Lawrence [Stroll]. He called me yesterday, that they were going into another direction.”
That led Checo to release a statement via social media announcing his departure late on Wednesday before Vettel was confirmed early on Thursday.
In that statement he said he was “hurt” by the decision given everything he’d done for the team, notably saving them from collapse back in 2018.
Perez also admitted he would have prefered a little more transparency on the situation.
“I wouldn’t say [I was] disappointed in that regard because I understand also the team has the negotiations going on and they took probably longer than I thought,” he said on the relatively late decision.
“Probably a bit more clarity would have helped regarding my future as well because then I would have looked for a Plan B.
“Which probably wouldn’t have changed anything, I’ve been long enough in this business. It’s part of this crazy world called F1.”