Sergio Perez has started an advertising campaign emphasising he won’t quit – amidst calls for the Red Bull driver to be axed.
Perez has teamed up with the Mexican tourism board to deliver a clear message: he ‘doesn’t know how to quit.’
This comes after Daniel Ricciardo publicly acknowledged he is gunning for the Mexican’s seat following his promotion to AlphaTauri.
Perez still sits second in the Driver Standings on 189 points – a full 125 points behind his teammate Max Verstappen.
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125 points is the exact margin at which Red Bull is contractually able to reduce Perez’s salary due to relative underperformance.
However, Perez has been faring better in the past few weeks, in light of a disastrous first half of his 2023 campaign.
He claimed second place at the Spa-Francorchamps, delaying Verstappen’s title celebrations – which had been expected to be held at the Singapore GP.
He also achieved a podium finish at the Hungarian GP last month.
The Red Bull racer was born in Guadalajara – the capital of the Mexican state of Jalisco.
He took to Twitter, writing: “We are Jalisco [a Mexican state] and we don’t know how to quit.
“We know how to set the course for Mexico with pride, identity and our foot on the accelerator.”
The message can perhaps be taken with a pinch of salt as it has clearly been made for tourism and advertising purposes.
However, underneath there is a thinly-veiled threat that Perez will not give up his Red Bull seat without a fight.
READ: Guenther Steiner breaks silence on Daniel Ricciardo rejection
The Mexican is under contract with Red Bull until 2024 and Helmut Marko recently dismissed Ricciardo’s ambitions to grab the seat before this time.
As F1 heads into the summer break, ‘Checo’ sits 40 points above Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.
His chief aim will be to retain second place come the end of the 2023 season, as Verstappen’s procession to his third world championship is now a mere formality.