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. “He very rarely has weaknesses or makes mistakes. He’s driving at a very high level.
“When you look back, even in qualifying, the last two qualifying [sessions], he’s been the only driver that has been able to maximise his full potential come qualifying.
“So I think just focusing on myself, obviously keeping an eye on what he’s doing, how he’s getting the maximum out of the car, but at the same time, I think it’s just important to focus on myself and get the maximum out of myself. And if I’m able to do that, I know that I’m always going to be very close.”
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Esploratore (@esploratore1)
21st March 2024, 13:05
I’d say perez is doing better now than he was doing most of last season, but last season’s start was very strong for him, so he hasn’t been as competitive so far; we’ll see if he doesn’t fade again in the next few races.
stefano (@alfa145)
21st March 2024, 13:51
he will. and if you are asking why, it’s because competition will catch up a little, enough to attract Perez back in the top 10 mix
Chris Horton
21st March 2024, 13:21
He’s been doing a really solid job so far. I hope he keeps it up.
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
21st March 2024, 13:27
Doing exactly what he has to do. Stay in his lane, come in p2 with a comfortable gap to p3 and a non-threatening gap to Max ahead, just to make sure he can take the win if Max has an issue. If he can keep this up, he can have a long career in the vein of the Irvine’s and Barrichello’s of the world.
MichaelN
21st March 2024, 13:44
Irvine challenged for the title with some merit, and Barrichello had a few stellar wins. Too few, sure, but he had moments. Pérez isn’t really on that level.
But so far so good. He needs to finish P2, and so long as he does that is all good.
Riccard
21st March 2024, 16:43
Irvine challenged for the title when Schumacher was out, but (despite being a good driver) couldn’t win ‘best of the rest’.
If Max were out, either through disqualification or injury, Perez would probably do better. Even last season he tiptoed into second.
I agree with putting Barrichello ahead of both of them, though.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
22nd March 2024, 1:43
Yes, barrichello was a bit better than irvine and given the chance irvine got in 1999 would’ve won that title, let’s not forget he was good in the wet, and that could’ve been decisive that season.
Think perez in a good season (not 2023) is at barrichello’s level.
Señor Sjon
21st March 2024, 14:41
He was good in the first four races of last year as well. He usually suffers when we get to the real tracks. Last year in Melbourne it started slipping away from him with an unforced error in qualifying and generally being lucky he still got a bit of points with all the red flags.
David BR (@david-br)
21st March 2024, 21:33
Verstappen was unhappy with the setup early last season, he’d sorted it out by race 5. Perez, though, tried to respond by imitating Verstappen’s racing style and totally lost confidence, making a ton of errors. I think his comments here
mean that he’s sticking to his own style and, basically, already accepting he can’t beat Verstappen normally and he’s not racing for the championship. He’s number two – and if Verstappen has a series of misfortunes (4 DNFs?!)) then who knows, maybe he can be consistent enough to win at the end of the season. But that’s the only way.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
21st March 2024, 16:47
Hopefully Checo pushes this race, last two he kinda gave up when he got in to 2nd. This is not very interesting, and it does not illustrate the true pace of the lead red bull. Please Checo Perez, please push your teammate, try to win man !!!
DMC
21st March 2024, 18:10
Irvine was up against Hakkinen one of the best. Hakkinen only just beat him to the title.
Nick T.
21st March 2024, 22:50
Hakkinen was good and he’s my favorite driver from the era between Senna and the 2001+ stars, but he’s far from one of the best.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
22nd March 2024, 1:46
1999 was also a really bad season for hakkinen, in 1998 irvine was nowhere, while schumacher still challenged for the title.
Jeffrey Powell
22nd March 2024, 11:16
Hakkinen may not be the GOAT but for me he is the funniest Grand Prix Driver , Kimi with a great sense of Humor, an hour and a half interview with him would make me turn over from most of the last 10 years of bore fest races.