Perez buoyed by Red Bull that feels “more together”

Sergio Perez says his Red Bull Formula 1 car feels “more together” after finishing a close second in Azerbaijan Grand Prix practice.

Perez was pipped to the top spot in Friday’s second practice session by just 0.006s by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, having also been on the pace in the morning.

The Mexican has been under fire this year for struggling much more with the Red Bull RB20’s balance issues than team-mate Max Verstappen, seeing the gap between the two team-mates balloon to over half a second per lap at several circuits.

One symptom of his plight was Perez scratching his head after many Friday practice sessions on how to turn the car around overnight.

But in Azerbaijan, Perez appeared much happier with his car balance right out of the box. “It was definitely a good, solid day,” he said.

“I think there are some good basics. We made good progress from FP1 to FP2, so we just have to make sure that we are able to progress from here and I think we can definitely be in the mix for tomorrow.

When asked if he was feeling more confident in the RB20 after some of the changes made in recent weeks, he said: “Yes, I think we are heading in the right direction. We’re finding that we can put the car a little bit more together.

“It’s still a long way to go, I think. But it’s promising what we’ve seen so far.”

Verstappen, who topped FP1 and was sixth in FP2 with what appeared to be very conservative engine settings given his lower top speeds, was also much more satisfied with his car’s behaviour than he had been in recent weeks.

“I think overall, a good day. We learned quite a bit. Now it’s just about tidying up the things that we tried,” the Dutchman added.

“But I think so far, yeah, we have been more competitive this weekend, so that’s a positive.

“A lot of work [went on] in the background, which also won’t stop.

“FP2 was a bit more difficult for me. So like I said, we just need to get the balance together a bit more, and then I’m quite confident that we can be competitive.”

As the sun set over the Caspian Sea towards the end of FP2, Verstappen became vocal over the Red Bull team radio about his visibility issues.

Explaining the issue, the world champion said: “I had two different visor stickers in terms of size, and basically one was too small, one was too big, because the sun comes down, and then in between the buildings as well,…