Sergio Perez says he’s still not fully comfortable at the wheel of his Red Bull, despite recent improvements in its handling.
The Red Bull driver has found the RB19 increasingly difficult to handle as the team has developed its latest car. While team mate Max Verstappen scored 10 consecutive victories while Perez endured a five-race run in which he failed to reach Q3.Perez has improved his form in recent races and reached the podium in three of the four rounds prior to last weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, where Red Bull were much less competitive. Speaking ahead of the race, he said he was still driving the car “not so naturally” but “we’ve made a lot of progress to make me drive more naturally.”
“I’m definitely feeling that I’m going back to where I started in terms of how I was driving the car,” said Perez, who won two of the first four races this year. “I think we made a lot of progress in the last few races in that regard, we did some set-up adjustments as well to adapt.”
He dismissed speculation that Red Bull intended their car to suit his team mate’s driving style. “I wouldn’t say that it’s the car designed around Max,” he added. “It’s just the fact that sometimes, you see it with the other teams, you bring upgrades to the car and it will suit one driver more than the other.
“It’s not that they’re making that upgrade specifically to one driver, they’re just trying to make the fastest car they possibly can.”
Verstappen leads Perez by 151 points at the top of the championship standings and is virtually assured of this year’s title. Perez said his team mate’s achievements deserve respect.
“We’ve got to appreciate what Max has achieved this year,” said Perez. “He’s driving at a very high level from FP1 all the way through to the race.
“He’s just put in some sort of performances that are incredible. The way he’s approaching every single weekend is very impressive and I think we’ve got to give him the credit for what he has achieved.”
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2023 Singapore Grand Prix
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HK (@me4me)
20th September 2023, 8:27
Whatever, Sergio. Getting tired of him going on and on about this.
No driver on the grid is entirely happy about their car’s characteristics. Norris, to name one.
Perez should just get on with it or accept he just can’t match the top 5 drivers.
Todfod (@todfod)
20th September 2023, 10:00
He has to justify the brutal thrashing he’s receiving this year… so there’s nothing more obvious than the ‘Car doesn’t suit my natural driving style’ excuse. F1 fans are now educated enough to know that isn’t the team, engineers or designer’s fault.. but the driver, who can’t get the most out of machinery.
Doggy
20th September 2023, 14:43
I agree with Pastaman here. It´s not like he goes around like a crazy person saying ¨it´s not me, it´s the car or bad luck¨
We have to keep in mind that this is how the media makes money. They ask things to all of them that would generate clicks/response.
It´s no coincidence that every week the media brings back 2021, Toto vs Horner, Max vs Lewis. This generates controversy and drama. Unfortunately, this is what most people like.
pastaman
20th September 2023, 12:15
Well then you should blame the media for asking him the same questions over and over, not Sergio for responding when asked.
kendall
20th September 2023, 18:50
Can you not see you completely miss the point-it’s not Perez going on & on about it-it’s the media!
Armchair Expert (@armchairexpert)
20th September 2023, 9:16
Driving alongside the greatest of all time is such a daunting task. No matter what Perez does, Max will always do it much better. In Singapore Red Bull “mysteriously” had only 8th quickest car, yet Max finished P5, only 0.3s behind Leclerc driving a race winning Ferrari! How can you even recover from it and accept you are facing an impossible task?
We saw it with Sainz, Ricciardo, Gasly, Albon and Perez – they can challenge Max in one, two quali or races, but for the rest of the season he’s going to completely annihilate his team mate.
Doggy
20th September 2023, 13:10
It’s too soon to say Max is the best of all times. He certainly is incredibly talented, have broken many records, and won several titles.
Yet, many drivers like Senna, Hamilton, Schumacher, Fangio, etc. Have achieved more in some regards.
Point aside, I don’t think that the there is such thing as “the GOAT”. Because comparing apples to apples is impossible.
Another Armchair expert
20th September 2023, 14:42
How did you get the “8th quickest car”? Are you exaggerating things to make your God Max Verstappen looks even better?
roadrunner (@roadrunner)
20th September 2023, 15:43
2 Ferrari, 2 Mercedes, 2 Renault and the one upgraded McLaren maybe?
That meant Verstappen overachieved a little bit in the race and was underperforming a little bit (we saw his little mistake) in qualifying whereas Perez, again, was nowhere…
Armchair Expert (@armchairexpert)
20th September 2023, 18:01
Outqualified by Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren, Haas, Aston Martin, Alpine and Alpha Tauri. Max, who always finished 1st or 2nd in qualifying in 2023, got only 11th on pure pace – the only constant is the amazing driver, which means car was as bad as Max has shown.
Doggy
20th September 2023, 19:50
As I see it @armchairexpert, and the data given seems to back it up, race pace wise for that particular night was:
1 – Two Mercs
2- Two Ferraris
3- Lando (because Piastri´s car did not have the upgrades)
4- Two RBs
Therefore, using your math, Max had the 6th fastest car (tied with Checo). There is no way Haas, AT, AM, nor Alpine were as fast as the RBs.
Your argument is only valid for a one-Lap (quali).
No one denies that Max drove really well (I think he had the most overtakes). But he did not pull a miracle here either.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
21st September 2023, 2:26
It’s worse than that, doggy, first of all red bull was arguably as fast as the front runners in the race, but even leaving that aside, he’s talking about red bull being the 8th fastest team, so you can’t count mercedes as 2, ferrari as 2, etc., so even if your analysis were correct it’d come up with red bull being the 4th fastest.
For me there was a claim for red bull, ferrari, merc and upgraded mclaren being equal in race pace.
Another Armchair Expert
22nd September 2023, 9:04
That’s a flawed logic. It’s like you saying that Usain Bolt is the fastest marathon runner because he is the fastest sprinter.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
21st September 2023, 2:23
Said it in the other thread and will have to say it again, since you don’t seem to get it: quali pace is not the same as race pace, if it were the history of f1 would be rewritten, there’s been numerous cases where a car is fast in quali but not so fast in the race: ferrari 2019 was very fast in quali, but merc dominated the races, the 2021 red bull was very fast in quali, but merc had more race pace most of the year, also individually speaking, the first race weekend of 2018, when we were still trying to find out the speed values, in australia, mercedes had 7 tenths margin in quali, and some thought: dominant car, then in the race it was only 2 tenths, and over the season the cars were actually matched.
Doggy
21st September 2023, 16:29
@esploratore1 you are one of the very few people here that provides balanced, interesting, and data based arguments.
Hope there were more people taking this approach.
We all have a preferred driver, but emotions /fanatism should not cloud reality. Much less bring toxicity to the table.
RR
20th September 2023, 9:37
Overall Perez should deem himself lucky to have that drive. He is a middling driver in the cream of current tech, probably for the very reason that he is not better than middling.
He will likely stay there a while yet if he plays his cards right. I see Piastri heading to RB at some point, though not quite yet. They will not want to destabilise Max, but at the same time they must look to the future.
If they delay too long, however, Piastri could end up replacing Leclerc at Ferrari….
Todfod (@todfod)
20th September 2023, 10:06
I don’t think Piastri will get a 2024 drive with Red Bull, as they would want to see more results that weren’t what-ifs from him.
I agree though, 2025 seems like the time he could have an offer from Red Bull. I’m guessing Ferrari will stick with Sainz and Leclerc till the end of the 2025 season, so 2026 is the earliest Piastri could get a drive for them. Mercedes will also be looking for a driver from 2026 to replace Hamiton, and my guess would be that Leclerc or Norris would be prime candidates for that seat, with an outside chance of Piastri.
Anuj Chopra
20th September 2023, 9:52
Any driver when paired with Max will feel that his performance is not up to the mark. This is because Max is so strong. When Hamilton said Max’s teammates are weaker than his, he was partially correct. Because Max is so strong that even if Russel were his teammate, he will look much weak. We already have seen Sainz when he was MV’s teammate. Not to offend LH fans but same thing can happen even to LH. He too can look very weak if he were MV’s teammate.
MV may have got a streak of 10 racewins this year but please remind me of any mistake he did in 2023. Isn’t a streak of 15 faultless races greater than anything LH has ever achieved?
Doggy
20th September 2023, 13:23
Interesting take you have here.
“Pedigree” wise Hamilton had stronger teammates than Max have had, for the most part. But Checo, in my opinion, has been better than Bottas throughout his career though.
But the point you’re bringing is % of errors per season. This is a good one, and I’d like to see an statistic about it.
As far as I can recollect, Max has driven a flawless 2023, which is something that Hamilton has not Been able to do. I think only Schumacher managed to do something like that when he was in the podium in all races in one season.
RH
20th September 2023, 13:56
Pedigree wise sure but consistency of Ham is not near Max regardless of teammates. Ham has had okayish teammates as well but he drops the ball quite a few times every season. Always did except for that patch from late 18 to mid 19 before he binned it in Germany giving Max the win.
A converse question is the following: Does Ham being inconsistent allow his teammates to look better than they actually are? It’s an interesting discussion.
Edvaldo
20th September 2023, 21:24
Sainz was a pretty poor example though. They raced together for one season only and were VERY competitive despite the points gap.
At Singapore was that famous race that Sainz was behind and faster and the team asked Max to let him through and he refused.
Now, in both seasons with Perez there he starts the season strong and gets worse along the way complaining the same things. Why is that if not for directing the efforts in giving Max the car he needs to excel in which they are completely correct?
So yeah, Max can make any driver look bad, even Hamilton and Alonso. In THAT team.
We can no way guarantee he would massacre Perez the same way were they driving for Force India or whatever that pink team was called.
Jeffrey Powell
20th September 2023, 10:44
Greatest of all time that’s a bit of a stretch he is only up against a couple of old timers in inferior machinery who could be considered as possible equals , he is undoubtedly up there I think Schumacher and Senna would be his equals at their peak, as he is now. To be really the GOAT. you would have to prove yourself superior to dead people not an easy task even for your ‘super hero’.
Zann (@zann)
20th September 2023, 10:47
Lots of them can drive a car that has a super strong back end. It’s when the front end gets grippy that the last bit of talent comes into it, and then Max and Lewis and Lando can correct so early and briefly that you can hardly see it, the car is just going round the corner, actually on a knife edge but they’re happy there because their reactions are up to it.
Checo hasn’t got this, and he’s never going to have it. And I didn’t like that pretty cynical move on Albon in the last race, trying to make up for not having it. I wish they’d replace him.
F1 Fan
20th September 2023, 11:50
Since Lando came when have Lando or Lewis driven cars as on the nose as the RB16?
Zann (@zann)
20th September 2023, 14:25
The Mercedes has had an iffy back end all year. Lando, okay is a bit of a for-instance. But if you’re here doing Max goat adulation you should be waiting for him to drive a non-Adrian car before you get too carried away. So many drivers have looked great in his cars and fallen back to ordinary afterwards – Seb, Danny, Kimi, etc etc
David BR (@david-br)
20th September 2023, 15:31
@zann +1
dot_com (@dot_com)
20th September 2023, 13:03
I think his performance in Singapore showed that he really doesn’t have much control over his car at all.
Coventry Climax
20th September 2023, 13:37
I’ve been saying this for a long time already, in reply to people saying the car is developed around Verstappen.
So glad this is finally out of the way.
Other than that, Perez is still a rather lousy driver ofcourse. If he’d been able to identify and more importantly specify both his ‘natural style’ as well as the car’s ‘requirements’, then overlaying these two would have identified his issues – and a way to go and setup things – much sooner. And that is assuming were not just dealing with yet another surge of excuses from Perez here. Oh well, either way…
knightameer (@knightameer)
20th September 2023, 14:38
Its checo’s third year with RBR. And still he hasn’t adjusted according to him. Time to switch teams if he’s unhappy. Occasional podiums in midfield cars must be easier to handle than fail in the fastest cars and face pressure.
baasbas
20th September 2023, 15:30
@knightameer
Well, he was about to be out of F1.. This gig was basically his only chance to stay. If he could manage to do okay or even pretty well, he could hold hopes of moving back to a midfield team or something when his contract expires (or Marko’s mood swings turn even more against him). Sadly for him, I don’t think his performances allow for such a move, so basically he is stuck where he is. Still, there are worse places to be stuck
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
21st September 2023, 2:32
Actually, if perez lost the red bull seat and wanted to continue in f1, I’d take him in a midfield team, he would be above average, he’s looking worse against verstappen than he was in force india.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
21st September 2023, 2:35
Sargeant, for example, isn’t setting the track alight, I don’t see why williams would mind 2x albons.
baasbas
21st September 2023, 9:46
@esploratore1
While that makes sense, I actually don’t think of Williams as midfield
(shocking)
David BR (@david-br)
20th September 2023, 15:32
I doubt there’s much doubt at Red Bull that the car suits Max better and Max driving at his best suits Red Bull better.
What they could do is have another driver in car no. 2 whose style isn’t so diametrically opposite. They don’t seem to care though at present.
baasbas
20th September 2023, 15:41
@david-br
Who should they put in there? Not trying to be a smart ***, genuine question.
Because I think they actually care a lot, but the solution is not that simple
David BR (@david-br)
20th September 2023, 19:49
Norris, Leclerc, Piastri?
baasbas
20th September 2023, 21:35
@david-br
Okay, I see my mistake. Let me correct it:
Which driver that is realistically available should they put in there?
David BR (@david-br)
20th September 2023, 22:06
Are those drivers really unavailable? Formula 1 contracts used to be made to be broken. There have been rumours about Norris and Leclerc switching to RBR. I’m sure all three would jump at the chance to move there right now.
I have an opinion
21st September 2023, 0:35
I’m wracking my brains over this one, but was there not a driver who used to give MV a run for his money in equal machinery? No, not Nico Rosberg. I think that driver might presently be under contract with RBR! Wow, right under their noses!
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
21st September 2023, 2:37
Ahah, fun the comment about ricciardo, but he’s unproven in recent times, in his 1 race back he didn’t convince enough to prove he’s better than tsunoda, let alone than perez.
Coventry Climax
20th September 2023, 17:46
I’ve been saying this for a long time already, in reply to people claiming the car is developed around Verstappen.
So glad this is finally out of the way.
Other than that, Perez is still a rather lousy driver ofcourse. If he’d been able to identify and more importantly specify both his ‘natural style’ as well as the car’s ‘requirements’, then overlaying these two would have identified his issues – and the way to go and setup things – much sooner.
And that is assuming were not just dealing with yet another surge of excuses from Perez here. Oh well, either way.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
21st September 2023, 2:40
Yes, this puts emphasis on adaptability, which is a quality top drivers have, across all eras. I remember norris saying the mclaren was a handful to drive, when ricciardo was his team mate, but he was still extracting the most every weekend.
Ferdinand
21st September 2023, 7:26
That was the key to Vettel’s rather underwhelming career after that 4 years in a row RB he drove. The jury is still out of Lewis. He will need to start showing he can drive around the current Mercedes challenges.
Coventry Climax
21st September 2023, 11:35
Don’t like the guy at all anymore, but to be fair, on race day Hamilton is doing sort of decent, most of the time. Obviously he also suffers from form glitches from time to time.
S
21st September 2023, 15:50
Yep, employees and management of the team say it to the media, so it must be the complete truth. Obviously.