Like Valtteri Bottas at Mercedes, Sergio Pérez at Red Bull Racing has been described as an important variable in the battle between the two teams, both in the constructors’ championship and in the drivers’ championship. More in the Milton Keynes clan than in the Brackley clan, at least for the first few months of the season, the second round was always clearly defined for Max Verstappen’s teammate. In the race for his first world title against Lewis Hamilton, the Dutchman knows that his garage neighbor is not there to overwhelm him but to score important points behind his leader.
Recruited externally, which Red Bull hasn’t been doing in years, Sergio Perez had to run an adaptation that wasn’t very straightforward, particularly due to the reduced winter track time. The Mexican has often convinced his sense of running the race, but he has also shown, especially in qualifying, that reaching the level expected cannot be achieved in a jiffy. He spanned a season this summer, and he also had a rough time recently, before everyone in Turkey remembered him. For a while, he didn’t bother him personally.
“I think during the last two Grand Prix races before Turkey I was also on my way to being on the podium”, believed with Motorsport.com In an interview organized in Houston with ExxonMobil, partner of Red Bull. “I was on the podium at Monza but was denied it because of the penalty. Same in Russia, I was on the podium but it started raining and we dealt the last three laps badly. So I think in a way we were a little unlucky, but we showed some progress. I am very confident that we can be really strong in the last six races and finish our season well. We can really be in the game and hopefully it will turn out well.”
His role, Sergio Perez knows perfectly well, but he also admits not to focus particularly on this water vector poster. This guide, which he is fully aware of, does not change his approach, which remains to do the best that he can while thinking about it, so that it reflects naturally on the needs of the team. As proof of that, Lewis Hamilton fought back in Istanbul, with both men giving us good passes.
“Of course the priority is to get the best out of me”, he insists. “And that has a direct impact on the team and, in a way, on Max. In the last Grand Prix for example, if Lewis had overtaken and he managed to overtake me, his race would likely be different than this. It was at the end. It’s a good point for the constructors’ championships. And the drivers. So I think I should only do my best as far as I’m concerned, and that will have a direct impact on my team, and also on Max as well.”
Interview by Ronald Fording
