Sergio Perez says he is “heading in the right direction” with his car at the start of the new season following his troubled 2023 campaign.
The Red Bull driver has returned to Melbourne where he suffered a dire weekend last year, repeatedly running wide at turn three and eventually failing to reach Q2 after going off at the right-hander. It proved the first in a series of poor weekends for Perez, who rapidly lost touch with team mate Max Verstappen in the championship fight.
However he has returned to the Albert Park this weekend in a confident mood after finishing second to Verstappen in the opening two rounds.
“I’m really pleased with the first two races, especially with the progress we made after the first one,” he said today. “I feel like as a team we are in a really good momentum.
“We are understanding a lot of what’s going on on the weekends, the way we review the weekends, how we prepare them. I’m pretty happy with how the season has started and I think there is a lot more to come from our side.”
Perez’s 2023 slump lasted until the Qatar Grand Prix in October. From that point his performance began to improve, but he is still looking for his first grand prix victory since Azerbaijan last year, during which time Verstappen has taken 19 victories.
However Perez says he is “in a much better place in terms of understanding” his car’s behaviour this year. “I think when the weekend is not going your way, getting back and understanding what things work for us and what doesn’t, I think we are a lot better in that regard.
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“We’ve been exploring a lot, especially towards the end of last year. We were exploring so much with the set-up of the car that we got to a point where I think right now we really know which directions and which set-ups work for us. We are in a much better position.
“Also, we are starting the weekend a lot better. We’re making a lot more progress during the weekend. So overall I feel a lot more together with the car and with the team for the rest of the year compared to last year.”
This year is Perez’s fourth season as Verstappen’s team mate. He believes the best approach to improve his own performance is “just maximising myself in all the areas” and not allowing himself to become distracted by the three-times champion’s approach.
“I think Max is a very complete driver that is very strong in qualifying, very strong in the race,” said Perez….
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