Red Bull were surprised by the ease with which they swept to a one-two finish in the opening race of the new season, said Sergio Perez.
Having qualified fifth for yesterday’s race, Perez rose to second place with little difficulty, passing both Ferraris and George Russell’s Mercedes on the way.“Today was a very nice surprise,” admitted Perez, who finished 22 seconds behind race-winning team mate Max Verstappen. “We were expecting definitely the people around us to be a lot stronger.”
However he expects to see a closer fight with the team’s rivals at tracks where tyre degradation is not as high as it is on the abrasive Bahrain International Circuit.
“This is probably the worst place for degradation. So I think the better it is, the closer you will get. Jeddah will be a very different challenge, it will be interesting to see where we are there.”
Perez said his efforts to catch Verstappen were compromised by the degradation he suffered towards the end of the race having made his first pit stops early while trying to get ahead of Carlos Sainz Jnr.
“It was just about managing, because he obviously pushed us to stop early and we just stopped quite early, actually. It was going to be a very long stint, so we managed to progressively build a gap, keep that gap between us consistent and I think it worked well.
“We had a few other issues with the car towards the end of the race that meant that our degradation was getting quite a lot worse towards the end of the race.”
The next race takes place at Jeddah Corniche Circuit, which has a less abrasive surface and far more high-speed corners than Bahrain. Perez, who won last year’s race at the track, forecasts another strong weekend for the team.
“I believe that the car will be strong there with the high-speed content,” he said. “So I think there should be another strong weekend for us.”
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James Bond (@jamesbond)
3rd March 2024, 12:07
“Perez said his efforts to catch Verstappen were compromised by the degradation he suffered towards the end of the race”
Perez catching Verstappen…..sure
Edvaldo
3rd March 2024, 13:18
It’s always the driver that comes in 2nd that says this kind of stuff. Curious.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
3rd March 2024, 14:50
“Today was a nice surprise to be able to coast to 2nd and be struggling in the pack like last year.”
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
3rd March 2024, 19:06
* not be struggling
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
3rd March 2024, 15:47
I hoped the competition would be better but didn’t expect it to be better. F1 like all top sports is ego driven and the ego extends to the engineering groups. Mercedes engineering still believes that their simulators are accurate even though their designs have been stomped in actual competitions for 2+ years.
Ben
3rd March 2024, 19:36
I’d say I expected Perez to be stronger but sadly I know he’s not good enough.
Frank B
3rd March 2024, 22:34
Most comments about Perez show the bitterness from regular average people envious of another regular average guy that somehow managed to get to a privileged position. Sore losers. However Perez is still clinging with his nails while other drivers have not done what it takes to get his current seat, as it is clearly evident.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
4th March 2024, 13:55
Sorry, I accidentally reported this comment instead of hitting reply.
I don’t believe Checo is a regular average guy that somehow managed to get to a privileged position. You don’t get to spend 14 seasons in F1 driving for the top team by accident. It’s a sport that weeds out underperformers like no other sport.
The fact that Red Bull have kept him for a 4th season is full proof that he’s not slow. How do I know that with mathematical precision that surpasses 3 standard deviations? This is a team that had no compunction getting rid of Sainz, Kvyat, Gasly, Albon, DeVries, and Lawson for not delivering the performance they expected. You may even say they got got rid of Vettel and Ricciardo or didn’t make clear efforts to hold onto them.
Jon (@johns23)
4th March 2024, 23:59
We just need Perez to be better and give us something to watch. Is that too much to ask?