Perez admits pressure of poor results impacted his racing
Perez admits pressure of poor results impacted his racing
Sergio Perez has spoken out on the pressure he was under at the beginning of the F1 2023 season, as he emerged as the only potential contender to a dominant Max Verstappen.
The Red Bull driver and his team-mate have streaked ahead of the competition this year so far, winning every race between them.
But Perez has not managed to maintain the same consistency as the Dutchman, and has slipped back into the upper midfield several times after winning two races early on.
Perez has insisted that this is partly down to the car not always completely suiting his style of driving, and also said that his confidence took a knock after some difficult weekends.
In an interview with former Aston Martin strategist Bernie Collins for Sky Sports F1, Perez explained that difficulties have arisen when he does not feel ‘fully confident’ in the RB19.
He also said that the start of this season felt ‘different’ in terms of pressure, because it started so well for him.
Perez beat out Verstappen to take two wins, in Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan. But since that Baku race in April, the Mexican driver has not managed to best the Dutchman to the top spot.
Asked by Collins, a former Racing Point colleague, what the pressure felt like at the start of the season, Perez said: “It was different this time obviously because, you know, we started the year so high, so you’re thinking you are a championship contender, you’ve won two races.
“Then, all of a sudden, you feel like, ‘Ah, this weekend doesn’t feel like it did before,’ so you’re losing confidence because you’re not fully confident with the car. In F1, if you’re not fully confident with a car at 250kph into a corner, then you are doubting a little bit more, and it’s what really happened in those moments.”
But the six-time race winner was determined not to give in, explaining that he is keen to maintain positive momentum with Red Bull for the rest of the year.
Perez said: “It would be easy here to sit back and say, ‘It’s too hard for me,’ and so on, but at the end of the day you just have to get on with it. Like I said, I just look forward to keep this momentum going with the team.”
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F1 Standings
Drivers
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Pérez
- Max Verstappen
- Alexander Albon
- Logan Sargeant
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Valtteri Bottas
- Zhou Guanyu
- Nyck De Vries
- Liam Lawson
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Yuki Tsunoda
Races
- Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2023
- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2023
- Grand Prix of Australia 2023
- Grand Prix of China 2023
- Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2023
- Miami Grand Prix 2023
- Qatar Airways Gran Premio Del Made In Italy E Dell'emilia Romagna 2023
- Grand Prix of Monaco 2023
- AWS Gran Premio de España 2023
- Grand Prix du Canada 2023
- Grand Prix of Austria 2023
- Aramco Grand Prix of Great Britain 2023
- Grand Prix of Hungary 2023
- Grand Prix of Belgium 2023
- Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2023
- Grand Prix of Italy 2023
- Grand Prix of Singapore 2023
- Grand Prix of Japan 2023
- Qatar Grand Prix 2023
- Grand Prix of the United States 2023
- Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2023
- Rolex Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2023
- Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2023
- Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2023
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