Perez says he's 'had enough of the speculation’ on Red Bull future as he looks back on ‘really bad race’ in Belgium

Sergio Perez has said he's had "enough of the speculation" around his Red Bull future as he reacted to a "really bad race" in the Belgian Grand Prix.

The Mexican was hoping to capitalise on his P2 start for the race in Spa, following a run of challenging results with his last podium coming back in China, but a sluggish getaway saw him lose a place to Lewis Hamilton.

READ MORE: Wolff apologises to Russell after Mercedes ‘mistake’ leads to Belgian GP disqualification

With passing more difficult than expected and following in the dirty air highly detrimental, losing the opportunity to try and slipstream race leader Charles Leclerc on the opening lap was a big blow for Perez, who was then undercut in the first round of pit stops.

Soon, he had his team mate Max Verstappen on his tail, with Red Bull initially opting to swap the two drivers. When the same situation occurred later on, they solved it by pitting Perez much earlier than he wanted.

That, combined with having two sets of mediums and only one set of the hard rubber on a day when the C2 tyre was the best race option, meant Perez came home eighth – which became seventh following Russell’s penalty.

READ MORE: Hamilton left with 'mixed feelings' over Belgian GP win as Russell reacts to ‘heartbreaking’ disqualification

“Yeah, it was a really bad race for us, it started well in the first stint, but then the second stint was really complicated by going onto the medium compound,” Perez lamented afterwards.

“That really hurt a lot when I had to push and the degradation was quite high. Yeah, we had to do quite a short stint unfortunately and that compromised I think the race time but, ultimately, we didn’t have the pace today.”

Despite signing a new contract at the start of June, speculation has been growing about Perez’s future following his run of poor results. He’s dropped to seventh in the championship, but more importantly to his team, Red Bull are under serious pressure from McLaren in the constructors’.

“I don’t think I will be responding anymore to any future speculation,” said Perez when asked about how he is dealing with the pressure to perform. “I’m here with the team fully committed, as a team we have a lot of stuff to focus on, to get ourselves ready for the second half of the season.

“I’ve had enough of the speculation, I’ve said everything I have to. Yeah, it’s time to take a break, regroup with the team and get back to it.”

READ MORE: ‘We have work to do’ – Verstappen acknowledges dominant days are 'behind' Red Bull despite 'positive' Belgian GP