Perez Red Bull contract talks underway

Sergio Perez has confirmed he has opened talks with Red Bull over a contract extension with the team.

The Mexican driver joined Red Bull ahead of 2021 after leaving Racing Point [now Aston Martin] and took victory in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as well as a further four podium appearances.

Perez has started the new season in fine form with a pole position in Saudi Arabia and two second-place finishes, with his record only hampered by reliability problems in Bahrain and Miami and a poorly timed safety car in Jeddah.

Team-mate and reigning world champion Max Verstappen was awarded a mega-deal understood to be worth in the region of €40million per year that runs to the end of 2028.

On whether Perez, whose contract runs out at the end of the year, had opened talks with Red Bull, the two-time race winner revealed: "Yeah, we started the talks but we are not in a hurry to get anything done soon."

Perez "driving at a very high level" - Horner

Perez initially took some time to settle into the Red Bull RB16B last year after switching from a low-rake to a high-rake concept car but gradually grew into his new surroundings.

Hailing his start to the new season, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said: "Checo’s doing a great job.

"He's driving at a very high level. He's more comfortable in the team this year. I think the car suits him better this year.

"It doesn't have some of the peculiarities that the previous probably three cars of ours had.

"I think that, you know, we're happy with the job he's doing.

"However, we've only seen a sample of [five] races so it's still early in the year. But everybody within the team is, you know, is very pleased with the job that Checo’s continuing to do."

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