“It’s not like I’ve forgotten how to drive,” Perez claims

Sergio Perez reckoned his third place in Belgian Grand Prix qualifying showed “it’s not like I’ve forgotten how to drive”, as he moves up to the front row for Sunday’s race.

The Mexican looked set to inherit pole position from the penalty-encumbered Max Verstappen when the grid order was set for the grand prix, but was pipped at the post by Charles Leclerc as the Ferrari driver improved up to second with his final lap of the session.

Regardless, it ensured that Perez clinched his first front-row start since the Chinese Grand Prix, offering him an opportunity to challenge for his first victory of 2024 as he hopes to break a difficult run of results.

Asked by Motorsport.com if his performance in qualifying was a welcome boost of confidence, Perez stated that it was worth more than that and it showed that the car was coming to him more over recent races.

“[It’s] more than confidence,” Perez explained. “I mean, it’s not like I’ve forgotten how to drive from five, six races ago.

“It’s just that you see it with a lot of drivers: sometimes you’re not able to maximise the full potential of your car. For that reason, you end up lacking that, let’s say, confidence to extract the maximum out of the car you have.

“I think we’ve been taking good step forwards in the right direction since Hungary; I think Silverstone was already quite good, I had a really good Friday. I think the car is going in the right direction for now and hopefully tomorrow we are able to finish it off with a strong result, and still there is a long way to go in the season.

“Head down and I think like I’ve said before, the team and myself are focusing on what we got to do at the end of the day, it’s getting the most points we possibly can. And the rest, I couldn’t care less, to be honest.”

With speculation over his future at Red Bull, the team is understood to make a decision about the Mexican driver’s future during the summer break.

Perez stated that his qualifying result in Belgium “doesn’t change anything”, having previously been defiant in the face of rumours about his Red Bull seat, adding that he has simply faced more scrutiny than other drivers in a similar position.

“From my point of view, it doesn’t change anything. I’ve always said it’s not where we are now, it’s how you ride the waves, and where we finish in Abu Dhabi. There are a lot of drivers that haven’t…