Sergio Perez remains “optimistic” over his future at Red Bull despite speculation amid concerns about his performance.

Perez fell to a sixth Q1 exit of the season in Las Vegas, which saw him only just make the points as he finished in 10th place.

He has had just four podium finishes this season, each of them coming in the first five races, and currently sits eighth in the drivers’ championship standings.

But Perez, who signed a two-year contract extension with Red Bull in June, is confident that form can change.

“I think with the set-up we are coming closer. In Vegas, we didn’t have the pace that we had in Sao Paulo, but I think there are some promising signs that things are coming,” Perez said. 

“It’s been one of my best starts to the year, with four races consecutively on the podium – things were looking great. But as soon as we came back to Europe, I think our season took a U-turn. Other teams improved and found a lot of performance, on our side we got a bit lost with the car.

“But I think it’s how it is in Formula 1, sometimes things don’t go your way. We’re still here and optimistic we can turn things around as a team, especially for next year.”

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The six-time race winner has faced increasing scrutiny, with Red Bull currently third in the constructors’ championship, 53 points off McLaren in top spot with two races and a Sprint session remaining.

While his team-mate Max Verstappen secured his fourth consecutive drivers’ championship title in Las Vegas last time out, Perez has been unable to get his car to perform.

“I think it’s very difficult for people to understand that are not part of team, or around on a daily basis, why from one race to another you are so far away,” he explained.

“There’s a reason why we extended my contract during the year, and the team has everything [they need to know]. We know exactly where we are in terms of performance, in terms of issues, difficulties that we’ve had.

“We are a team and we know exactly internally where everything stands, so we’re working really hard as a team to come through and get back into a much better season than the one that we just had.”