Sergio Pérez has opened up for the first time on his departure from Red Bull, saying he knows the team regrets the decision.

The Mexican driver, who raced in Formula 1 from 2011 to 2024, including four years at Red Bull, gave new details on his exit from the team in an interview with the Desde el Paddock podcast.

When asked if Red Bull owed him an apology, Perez said: “Deep down, they are very sorry [for cutting his contract] and I know this from a very good source.”

Red Bull appointed New Zealand’s Liam Lawson as Perez’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.

Perez, 35, is rumoured to be a strong contender for the new Cadillac F1 team set to debut in 2026, added 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,” Perez 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.”

“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.”

In December, Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, told reporters the team tried “everything” to help him.

“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.

Perez 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 Checo himself, have taken over the management of his career.

When asked if he wanted to return, Perez 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.”

With regard to 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.