Sergio Pérez has recently opened up about his departure from Red Bull, revealing that he believes the team regrets their decision. The Mexican driver, who raced in Formula 1 from 2011 to 2024, including four years at Red Bull, shared new details about his exit in an interview with the Desde el Paddock podcast.

When asked if Red Bull owed him an apology, Pérez stated, "Deep down, they are very sorry [for cutting his contract] and I know this from a very good source." Red Bull initially appointed New Zealand's Liam Lawson as Pérez's replacement for 2025, but the 23-year-old was demoted after just two races, with Yuki Tsunoda of Racing Bulls—Red Bull's junior team—promoted.

Pérez, 35, is rumored to be a strong contender for the new Cadillac F1 team set to debut in 2026. He also mentioned that with the departure of designer Adrian Newey, "many more problems began, then Jonathan Wheatley [Red Bull's sporting director until 2024 and now Sauber's team principal] left, who was a fundamental part of the team," and the team "gradually" fell apart.

"In the end, that's how the sport is. Decisions were made because there was too much pressure that they themselves ended up creating," Pérez said. "There was a lot of pressure on my side of the garage ... it was putting a lot of pressure on the engineers, on everyone involved, and I think in the end that ended up costing us a lot."

In December, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner told reporters the team tried "everything" to help Pérez. "We've tried everything with him and supporting him and basically he has come to his own conclusion that I think that now is the right time to step away from Formula 1 to take a bit of time out," Horner said.

Pérez confirmed that he does want to return to Formula 1 and that he has a new manager, Khalil Beschir, a former Lebanese driver with whom he has had a close friendship since he moved to Europe to pursue his F1 dream. Beschir, along with Luis Aguirre and Pérez himself, have taken over the management of his career.

When asked if he wanted to return, Pérez said, "Yes, I do, if the right project comes along that I feel is where I should be," but he stressed that he does not want to travel the world as a third driver. "I want to go back because I don't want to end my career like this," he said. "I'll go back if it's worth paying the price to be in F1."

Regarding which team he would join, he said, "I'm in no rush, we'll see what happens next year," but added that he is looking to do something similar to what he achieved with Force India (now Aston Martin), which gradually became a winning team.