Damon Hill drops a 3-word reaction to Sergio Perez talking about Red Bull's downfall

Former Formula 1 world champion Damon Hill gave a short reaction to Sergio Perez talking about Red Bull's downfall in the 2024 season. The Mexican driver was dismissed by the Austrian team at the end of last year, despite having signed a two-year contract extension with the Milton Keynes-based outfit.

The 35-year-old had joined Red Bull at the start of the 2021 season, having been released by Racing Point in 2020 to make way for Sebastian Vettel. In the initial years of his tenure with the Austrian team, Perez proved to be a valuable support to his teammate Max Verstappen, often stepping up and securing strong results when Verstappen encountered difficulties.

However, from the middle of the 2023 season onwards, he began to struggle significantly, unable to deliver the consistent results needed as rival teams started closing the performance gap to Red Bull.

But in his interview with Desde el Paddock podcast, Sergio Perez spoke about the influence of key personnel like Adrian Newey leaving the team and said,

"We didn't dominate in an era like Mercedes, which had an advantage with the engine. Here, the advantage was very small, and we had a great team. When Adrian Newey left, I think that's when a lot more problems started. Then Jonathan Wheatley left, who was a fundamental part of the team." "I know that deep down they are very sorry, I know that from a very good source. People might think I'm happy about it, but no... we had a great team, and in the end it fell apart, little by little."

On his Instagram Story, Damon Hill gave his three-word reaction to Perez's comments, writing:

"Key Man Clause,"

Snapshot of Damon Hill's reaction to Sergio Perez's comments...Credits-Instagram

Despite his struggles, Perez was given a two-year contract extension by Red Bull in Monaco last year.

Sergio Perez reflects on his Red Bull exit after 2024

Former Red Bull driver Sergio Perez believed that the Austrian team could have given him a longer run, especially considering he had a two-year contract with them that had been extended last year.

As quoted by the aforementioned source, the six-time F1 race winner reflected on his exit and said:

"Decisions were made because there was too much pressure that they themselves ended up creating. I had a signed contract in Monaco, but from the next race onwards, everyone was talking about my future even though I already had a signed contract. "It would have been easy for the team to protect me and say, 'You know what? We have a driver signed for the next two years'. But that wasn't the case."

Sergio Perez won five of his six career races with Red Bull from 2021 to 2023, but was the only driver from the team last year to remain winless.

Edited by Pratham K Sharma