A defiant Sergio Perez insists that he will go down fighting as summer deadline approaches.

Though not quite as iconic as the image captured in the aftermath of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump last weekend, for Sergio Perez the same message is clear... the Mexican will "fight, fight, fight" to retain his seat at Red Bull.

Already under pressure, the Mexican crashed out of qualifying and will start today's race from 16th on the grid, on a track where it is notoriously difficult to overtake and at a time his teammate needs his support more than ever.

Currently 137 points adrift of Max Verstappen, it is understood that if after next weekend Perez is not within 100 points of the Dutchman a clause in his contract would allow Red Bull to release him.

There was already intense speculation linking Daniel Ricciardo with the seat, but now Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda are also believed to be in the frame.

However, a defiant Perez insists that the fat lady isn't singing yet, and that he will fight to retain his seat.

Speaking to reporters in the aftermath of qualifying, a clearly dejected Perez was asked if he is still finding F1 fun.

"I wouldn't say fun," he replied, "I would say a challenge. Something that mentally it's really tough and the easiest way would be just to give up after the career I've had and to say it's been enough, but it's not what I want to teach my kids, not what I want to show this sort of character.

"I just want to get back, and I will get back, I will not give up."

His last visit to the podium was in Shanghai, since when he has scored just 33 points, compared to his teammate's 145.

Asked if he fears losing his seat during the break, Perez replied: "No, like I said before nothing changes, I'm not worried, I'm fully determined to turn my season around and to focus on my performance.

"It hurts, you know, that it happened again," he added, referring to yesterday's crash, "especially in the run that I am going through, but I'm determined to turn this around.

"Yesterday we had a really good day, a very promising day, so I think we had very good information on the long runs so hopefully we can have some really good pace to come through the field and hopefully score some points."

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