During this weekend, Max Verstappen could win his third world championship, probably already at the end of the sprint race on Saturday. A title that represents the culmination of a season in which the Dutchman was able to impose his dominance over his opponents, starting with his teammate.
After a positive start where, despite what happened in Australia, he was always able to reach the podium, from Spain onwards Perez went through a period lacking in satisfaction, with multiple exits in Q1 or Q2 which severely penalized the his races.
Over the course of the year, the Mexican explained on several occasions that his decline in form was also due to the fact that some aspects of the development of the RB19 did not work properly in favor of his driving style. However, Perez himself had underlined that situations can happen during a championship, because the car may need to see certain characteristics improved which do not always match the driving style of one of the two drivers.
Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
On the eve of the Qatar round, Perez reiterated this concept, while underlining the work done by his teammate, who would have driven on another level: “Max did an extraordinary job. We must not take away any credit from the season that he did. I think he drove on a different level than anyone else and I think that’s something I have a lot of respect for.”
“For my part, I feel that Barcelona started to be… it was a turning point. On weekends I was always looking for something. Sometimes there are weekends where things come much more naturally and you are two or three steps ahead, while from Barcelona I felt that I was starting to struggle and have some deficits with the car”, explained the standard bearer of Red Bull.
Having put aside the Verstappen chapter, the attention of the driver from Guadalajara is focused on recovering after the two empty weekends in Singapore and Suzuka, where he did not score any points. Perez believes he has identified what didn’t work in Japan, especially from a set-up point of view: some choices did not provide the desired results, penalizing him for the rest of the weekend.
“The stages in Asia didn’t go well for me, neither Singapore nor Suzuka. But I think we learned a lot about what went wrong in Japan. I expect to be in a better position this weekend. It’s mainly about the direction taken on the set-up, we got some things wrong. Looking back, we understand what didn’t go in the right direction. Hopefully we have a better weekend here.”
Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB19
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
“I think it will be a similar trend here to the one seen in Suzuka, with lots of fast corners. Clearly the track conditions will be very different. It will be an interesting weekend, with only FP1 followed by qualifying. The track will probably be two seconds slower in FP1 with the sand on the track, it will be interesting then at night with the lower temperatures.”
Perez is now fighting for second place in the championship, with Lewis Hamilton just 33 points behind. The Mexican admitted that it is important for him to maintain second position, so that it can be a springboard towards a 2024 in which his stay in the Milton Keynes team and, probably, also in Formula 1 will be played out: “It’s important because it’s the best I can get right now. I think all the drivers in here want to have the best season possible.”
“And above all, for me it is very important to finish the season in the best way, because this helps the start of next year. So, for me, it is very important to finish at the top and make sure that we are able to get results in the next six races.” .
#Perez #Max #level #struggled #Spain