Sergio Perez says he aims to “over-deliver” on the potential of Red Bull’s car in his first season with the team.
Speaking to media including RaceFans after his first run in the team’s new RB16B for the 2021 F1 season, Perez said his objective was “to over-deliver the car performance.”“If we’ve got a car good enough to win the championship, to make sure I win it,” he explained. “And if we’ve got a car that is good for second, make sure I win. Over-deliver the car potential.”
Perez, who made his F1 debut in 2011, believes his experience will stand him in good stead when he goes up against new team mate Max Verstappen, who is widely regarded as one of the sport’s top drivers.
“I think it is quite a big [advantage], to be honest,” said Perez. “You’re here and when things don’t go well, pressure hits you hard. And when you are experienced and when you’ve been through it before, it just makes you focus on the right stuff.
“Technically you develop a lot of skills as well throughout your career. I just think the opportunity comes at a great point of my career and it’s going to work out well.”
However Perez said it may take him time to get the best out of his new car and team.
“I’m confident in my abilities,” he said. “I just think it’s a matter of time before I get on top of everything.
“But I don’t see why, with time and once I am on top of all the things that I need to know before on the car, I can’t be [at] my level.”
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erikje
25th February 2021, 19:38
That’s the spirit.. getting the most out of the car and keep your team mate ( the most important battle) on edge.
Let’s hope Perez will master the RB soon so we are in for a tough battle during the year.
Robbie (@robbie)
25th February 2021, 21:48
Had the same thought after reading that. Wouldn’t expect him to say anything less, but for sure yeah we have to give him the time as it is a simple fact that Max is the engrained one on the team and SP will be slightly on his hind foot as he learns the car and the team, and they him. That said, if the car is really good and they’re both quite comfortable with it right off the hop, then SP should need less time to get up to speed. Going to be a blast to see.
Retired (@jeff1s)
25th February 2021, 20:06
Those who over-deliver overdrive.
F1 frog (@f1frog)
26th February 2021, 9:50
@jeff1s I was thinking the same thing. Wasn’t Albon’s problem that he was overdriving the car? If Perez tries to overdeliver, he might end up overdriving as well, and will struggle just as much as Albon.
Robbie (@robbie)
26th February 2021, 14:34
@jeff1s @f1frog I’m sure AA overdrove the car at times, but also would have recognized when he was doing that as would his team have been guiding him through things, so I don’t think it is as black and white as just that one thing.
mmertens (@mmertens)
26th February 2021, 14:39
It’s a thin line between over delivering vs over driving the car. A less experienced driver would overdrive the car trying to over deliver ( a bit what Charles Leclerc did sometimes due to lack of experience, he tried to outdrive his Ferrari on some occasions last year). I believe it’s that what Perez tried to state. He has the experience now to over deliver without overdoing it. A bit what Alonso used to do with the McLaren; over deliver on a worse car. I believe it might take a while, but he’s much better driver now than when he got his chance at McLaren. Time will tell, but it’s exciting.
Ivan Vinitskyy (@ivan-vinitskyy)
25th February 2021, 21:32
Typical f1 driver with unrealistic belief in his abilities. Will undoubtedly fall flat.
Retired (@jeff1s)
26th February 2021, 7:14
haha
Jere (@jerejj)
26th February 2021, 8:54
@ivan-vinitskyy LOL. What should he have said instead? ‘I don’t believe in my abilities’
Not much point in being in F1 if a driver wouldn’t believe in himself.
Ivan Vinitskyy (@ivan-vinitskyy)
26th February 2021, 9:00
@jerejj Don’t go the other extreme. It would have been wiser to admit the challange ahead and just aim for matching Ver by end of the year. Not beating Max and even Ham, when Mercedes turns out to be faster.
Bill
26th February 2021, 12:05
Champions mentality always believes they can win it all even if others cannot see it.
Ivan Vinitskyy (@ivan-vinitskyy)
26th February 2021, 14:16
Its this kind of nonsense that keeps getting talked about. Yes, many champions are arrogant and out of this world but many are not. Many have humility and are down to earth.
Racing_RS
26th February 2021, 14:29
Perez has only won one championship (Brit F3 in 2007) in 17 years of racing…
Adam (@rocketpanda)
26th February 2021, 0:09
If he can outqualify Verstappen just once on equal terms with no adverse weather or technical reliability coming into play I’d say that was a job well done. If he can do that and finish ahead of him too, again without any large interference, that would be overdelivering.
Fantomius (@liko41)
26th February 2021, 9:19
@rocketpanda
Nobody is allowed to fight “on equal terms” with Verstappen at RB.
And if someone does, he’d got the Ricciardo medicine.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
26th February 2021, 12:29
Disagree with that, verstappen is the number 1 at red bull cause he proved faster than the others, if you go back a few years, historically, wasn’t ferrari much more of a number 1 and 2 team than red bull? Then what happened? Leclerc took number 1 from vettel, that’s how it is always, it’s just very hard to find someone who would significantly beat verstappen at the same team, probably not possible either.
erikje
26th February 2021, 13:50
But that was administered by Verstappen. That was the one who chased Ricci away. Not the team.. they wanted to keep him
Pat
26th February 2021, 14:43
Yes if you watch Netflix Horner wanted to keep RIC but RIC wanted to leave anyway.
Homerlovesbeer (@homerlovesbeer)
26th February 2021, 23:09
@Pat the Netflix material I watched had Horner going all gooey over Max and saying things like he wants Max to be the youngest WDC in history along with Max is the future of RBR while Dan hardly gets anything close to the gushing praise Max received.
Robbie (@robbie)
26th February 2021, 14:31
@liko41 And your evidence of that is?
Fantomius (@liko41)
28th February 2021, 12:29
@robbie
There is so much evidence, that, if you need to ask, you are probably incompetent.
Or a maxiboy groupie.
Robbie (@robbie)
28th February 2021, 14:29
😂
Dave
17th April 2021, 19:51
Verstappen: Downfall?
IVAYLO
26th February 2021, 7:27
I’m glad for Perez and his aims to fight and win the championship shows character, which is why after all these years he is in F1 and so many are not. Suffices to admit I have a soft spot for him.
Balue (@balue)
26th February 2021, 11:45
I really believe in Perez. I think he will do a great job and take it up another level. Yes, he has overdone things in the past and not really delivered, but that was probably frustration of the midfield more than lack of temperament. Will be very interesting to see. Can’t wait.
Bill
26th February 2021, 12:15
As much as I like Hamilton I don’t want to see him get more Championships than Schumacher.
I hope Honda can give Perez a powerful engine.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
26th February 2021, 12:31
Yes, me neither but honestly at some point these numbers don’t matter any more, it’s not like you can go hamilton > schumacher > fangio > prost\vettel > senna etc. based on titles, you need to keep circumstances into account, and hamilton’s amount of wins without a dominant car is similar to hakkinen’s and raikkonen’s, not exactly 2 known as the best of all times, schumacher has around 50 wins without dominant cars, which I think would be hard to beat for anyone.
Pjotr (@pietkoster)
27th February 2021, 23:56
Indeed, it was proven that Ves could be beaten. But only by a Mercedes.