Perez talks about getting kicked out of the Red Bull academy years ago

Sergio Perez laughs about the time he was thrown out of the Red Bull junior program.

Perez had a chance to become a Red Bull junior four years prior to making his debut in the sport.

“I was invited through my program to be a tester (for Red Bull) and it didn’t go well,” Perez told F1’s Beyond the Grid.

“I had an issue with the seat because my knees were hitting the wheel, so I couldn’t turn and I was quite far off the pace. I thought that I was going to be able to sort out the seat and have another go, but when I went back, I was just kicked out, and I didn’t have an extra chance.”

“I went into Formula 3, I was racing the Red Bull drivers, and I was leading the championship,” Perez explained.

“I saw him (Marko) at Silverstone, ‘We will beat you, we will beat you,’ he was telling me.

Perez had another conversation with Marko during his time in GP2 (now Formula 2) where the Mexican once again missed out a spot with the Austrian company due to his ties with Telmex.

“When I was in GP2, that was my first year with Christian actually, after one good race at Silverstone, he came to me and said, ‘What are you doing?’ and so on,” Perez recollected.

“He told me, “Well you’re doing right, but you have your your own driver program you don’t need me.” That was a final conversation that we had that I remember.”

After 10 seasons in the sport, Perez will finally get a chance to drive for Red Bull. The Mexican comes into the sport with a wealth of experience something he is sure to maximize as he goes up again Max Verstappen, one of F1’s toughest customers.