Sergio Perez has dismissed an IndyCar switch after Formula 1, citing safety concerns over high-speed crashes with "not very experienced" drivers in the series.
Despite signing an extension with Red Bull back in May, Perez is facing the prospect of his Formula 1 career being cut short at the end of this year.
Unlike last season, this year the Mexican driver has not been able to pull himself out of his slump which, with his single point in Las Vegas, extended to 17 races without a podium finish.
In a season in which McLaren and Ferrari have two cars scoring big points regularly, Perez has fumbled the task and sits on 152 points to his team-mate Max Verstappen's 403.
It has cost Red Bull in the Constructors' Championship, the team down in third place, and Helmut Marko has pointed his finger at Perez.
"We have to have two drivers who finish in the points," he said to DAZN. "Max is more than 200 points ahead of Sergio.
"For our employees, it is a disappointment because they will not receive their bonuses as those depend on our position in the Constructors' Championship. And there's no chance we can win it."
He revealed Red Bull's shareholders will decide Perez's fate at a meeting that has been scheduled for after the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
It begs the question, what's next for Perez if he loses his Red Bull race seat?
He's ruled out following former F1 drivers such as Romain Grosjean or Marcus Ericsson into IndyCar as he says he didn't come through 281 Grand Prix starts, if he sees out this season, only to be injured racing "not very experienced" drivers.
"Not really," Perez told Motorsport.com of the prospect of heading to IndyCar. "If I'm honest, because I think one of the reasons I'll stop the day when I stop, it's because I've done it enough.
"I've done it enough at this level of F1. With the tight schedule that we have, I'd like to be able to, I've got some small kids at home, so I'd like to spend more time with them, with the family.
"I think it's really hard to get what you used to get from F1, in that regard."
"I really respect what they do in Indy," he added, "but the way I see it is like after, hopefully, that I'm able to finish my career without any injury or something like that.
"I think going into Indy, I have a lot of respect for what the drivers do. At the same time, there are drivers that are not very experienced in the series and doing those sorts of speeds, and having that sort of impact is not something that I'm willing to do once I finish my career."
He could, however, try his hand at endurance racing by contesting the big ones, the 24 Hours of Le Mans or Daytona.
"Yeah," he said of that. "Doing one or two races a year. I think it's something as a driver, you're going to be looking at very soon because it's really hard to stop completely."
