Sergio Perez recently shared his primary objective for the 2024 Formula 1 season with Red Bull. He aims to steer clear of getting entangled in the car’s progress throughout the year. Perez had a promising start to the previous season, triumphing in two out of the initial four races and narrowing the gap to his teammate Max Verstappen in the championship. However, a crash during Monaco’s qualifying session resulted in a series of subpar performances, dashing his title hopes. Despite this setback, Perez remains hopeful about his future with Red Bull and is confident that he will come back stronger this year. He intends to learn from his mistakes and make the most of every opportunity that comes his way. Perez has been dedicating himself to understanding the challenging races from last season to prevent a similar slump from occurring again. He also stressed the significance of learning from their approach to car development and avoiding excessive compensation.
Perez’s difficulties reached their peak during a challenging period where he only managed to score a single point in Qatar and Japan, all while encountering issues on both race weekends.
While acknowledging that Red Bull’s dominant RB19 car was developed independently of him, Perez admits that his struggles stemmed from making the wrong choices in terms of setup directions.
“I believe that, above all, we encountered some problems during the car’s development, and our attempts to address those issues ended up compromising the car’s performance instead of enhancing it,” he explained when asked if he was hindered by trying to adapt too much.
“I’ve come to realize that being more comfortable doesn’t necessarily mean being faster, and this is something we particularly learned during the lowest point of the season in Qatar and Japan when we gained valuable lessons.”
A thorough analysis conducted with his team of engineers at Red Bull’s Milton Keynes headquarters proved to be a turning point for Perez, enabling him to bounce back and conclude the season on a stronger note.
However, the six-time Grand Prix winner doesn’t anticipate that his breakthrough will be applicable to Red Bull’s RB20 challenger.
“With the changes we’ve implemented in the car, it’s all about improvement, learning, and growing alongside the car,” he stated.
“The season is lengthy, so it doesn’t really matter where we start in Bahrain; what truly matters is where we finish in Abu Dhabi. It’s a critical season, and our primary focus will be on progressing throughout.”
Perez also believes that he must discover his own approach to car setup throughout this season, despite acknowledging that he has a reliable point of reference in Verstappen.
“There’s no magical solution that is inherently right or wrong; it’s about maintaining an open mind throughout the season and ensuring that we find the right path to unlock our pace and continue developing from there,” he concluded regarding his strategy.
According to the Source motorsportweek.com
