Sergio Perez says it was in Barcelona where he started feeling a bit off from balance point of view, while adding Monaco hurting his confidence.
Once again Red Bull’s Perez started off on a good note in F1 2023 against Max Verstappen but as the season progressed, he started to tail off and lose out to the Dutchman. He is now in a situation where it will be difficult for him to win the championship.
It is all about securing second in the drivers’ standings beating the other competitors. But the dip came at a time when it was crucial for him to hang on. It happened in Barcelona as per him when he started to feel that the balance he wanted wasn’t there.
He notes that trouble has been cleared now and he is in a much better place even though he is a bit off from the title picture. “It has changed a bit in that regard,” said Perez. “I think when we went to Barcelona I found a bit of a different balance compared to what I wanted.
“But I think now we’ve come on top of that, we’ve made some good progress, we’ve had some good race pace in the last few races but qualifying hasn’t been going on our way. So I think it’s just how it is; through the year sometimes you’ll have a bit of bad races, but it’s important where we finish in Abu Dhabi, I think.
“Overall, for the team it has been a great first half of the year. It will be great to keep it the same for that second half of the year. On my side, I think I had four or five weekends where I didn’t maximise the full result that I had on the table and that has cost me a lot of points, but I had a very strong start to the season.
“And I just think on the second half of the year I just want to be bring my form back and be able to score as many points as possible in the coming races,” summed up Perez, who recalled losing confidence after his crash in Monaco. Apart from the balance issue, this did put him back and it was few hard races to come through.
“I think certainly after Monaco I lost some confidence, because the way that my crash happened, I did lose a bit of confidence with the car,” continued Perez. “And that put me back. I have my psychology, and that’s something that I work on. And other than that, I think it’s just how the sport is, you know.
“You have good moments, bad moments, but always when you are at Red Bull, the pressure is a lot higher in that regard. You have a bad session and then you have to answer questions about your future straightaway. So it’s just how it is. But luckily enough, I’m in a good place and I just have to focus on making sure that I enjoy my job and enjoy the weekends,” summed up Perez.
But this is not the first time that the Mexican has been in a spot of bother. His career has been full of ups and downs where the prime example being of his time at McLaren. “I’ve had that before,” said Perez. “And it’s just how it is, you know, we operate on such small details that sometimes if everything isn’t perfect, it can mean being on the podium or being out of the points, you know.
“But it’s obviously something that people at home don’t really understand, how much detail goes into our races, and that can make the difference between having a great race or having a very poor race. But it can happen to anyone, to any driver in Formula 1,” summed up Perez.
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