If Niki Lauda, Kimi Raikkonen and more recently Fernando Alonso can make a successful comeback to the Formula 1 grid, then so too can Sergio Perez.

At least that’s according to the former Red Bull driver’s father, Antonio Pérez Garibay.

Sergio Perez ‘deserves to say goodbye like the greats’

Perez’s Formula 1 career came to an abrupt end last year when the Mexican driver and Red Bull announced after the season that they’d parted ways with immediate effect.

Although he had signed a new two-year extension back in May, his season was blighted by a huge drop-off in performance and Perez’s results did not recover.

Scoring a measly eight points in the final eight races of the season, Perez cost Red Bull dearly in the Constructors’ Championship as they fell to third and with that, the writing was on the wall.

The late announcement meant Perez was out of options for the F1 2025 season as the rest of the grid had already been decided. But that doesn’t mean he won’t be back next year.

His father Pérez Garibay is banging that drum as, not for the first time, he insists the Formula 1 door is still open to his son.

And if the likes of Lauda, Raikkonen and Alonso can successfully come back, then so too can Checo.

“As he said, he will wait these six months,” Pérez Garibay told Esto. “If a good opportunity comes, he will take it.

“Look at how many Formula 1 drivers have taken a sabbatical and how they come back. Lauda did it, Kimi Raikkonen did it, Fernando Alonso did it. Many drivers have done it and they come back stronger than ever.

“I have no doubt that a good opportunity will come for ‘Checo’ to come back for several more years. He deserves to say goodbye like the greats.”

For now, Perez is enjoying life as a family man including attending a soccer tournament with his son, Sergio Perez Jr.

“He is experiencing something he had never experienced before, something he didn’t know about, which was the issue of family and family commitments with his children,” said Papa Perez.

“Being able to accompany ‘Chequito’ to his entire soccer tournament throughout the country, where ‘Chequito’ will be competing, where he never had that support since he was little because of his father’s commitments, but today they are all together walking a wonderful family journey.

“Checo has been racing go-karts since he was 8 years old and he has been racing cars every weekend until today when he stopped participating in Formula 1, otherwise by now he would be dealing with the whole practice issue, he would be on top of the issue of uniforms, caps, the whole issue of sponsors, merchandising.

“So today there is a relaxation, you have to take it easy. The truth is that I am very grateful to God and to life for so much.”

After weeks of silence, Perez broke his silence over his Red Bull axing earlier this month and told ESPN Deportes that “in the next six months, I will make a decision on what I want for the next step in my career.”

“It’s too early to give an answer as to whether I intend to return to Formula 1. Everything happened very quickly at the end of last season, I didn’t expect to leave the team.”

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