Sergio Perez says F1 win is fine but he is still getting on top of the car, with the help of Red Bull as he praises Alexander Albon’s work, while Christian Horner adds on his progress and future.
Despite his first win with Red Bull in F1 Azerbaijan GP, Perez notes that he is still getting to grips with the car and making a step-by-step progress. In Bahrain, he said that it will take him five races to be there and co-incidently, he won in his sixth.
But, it is still a bit more for him to do, to get everything together. “It certainly feels that I’ve made good progress, not just Baku, also in Monaco, every weekend the understanding grows and after each weekend we do a very deep analysis, we do a lot of work back in the factory to try to figure out what we can do better as a team,” he said.
“But yes, certainly I think we are getting there, we are improving and I see no reason why going to a different track we cannot be able to have a similar kind of performance. So yeah, definitely my confidence is growing, the understanding with the team is getting there. I mean it’s only race number six of the season, there’s still plenty to go but it’s important to keep this momentum and to keep improving, race after race.”
Perez was in particular pleased with the work done behind the scenes. After Horner’s praise in Monaco for Albon, the Mexican has kind words for the Thai to be open to him with the issues he faced at Red Bull and pass on his experience to speed up his progress.
“I think we’ve got a pretty good team,” Perez said. “I think what Max did was great to see. He really deserved the win in Baku, he did everything perfect that weekend. He was just very unlucky. It was really his win. And Alex as well, he’s putting so much work into the simulator with the engineers. I remember when I came here, you wouldn’t expect from him to be so open in a way with me.
“But he explained to me all the issues he had, how the car works, and that was very nice, since day one, to have from him. I really appreciated that, and I appreciate the work he is putting in weekend after weekend with the team, with the simulator. This is teamwork, and ultimately we are there thanks to every single individual in this team,” summed up Perez, who is not thinking much of the title for Red Bull, as it is only the sixth race.
From Horner’s side, it was again kind words for Perez. The Brit is happy to see his quicker progress, while praising his phenomenal pace in Baku, especially when compared to Verstappen. He also talks about having the Mexican up there for title prospects.
“We knew Perez was good around here but we didn’t know he was that good,” said Horner. “And, he was quick all weekend, he was bang on the pace. The only one lap that he made a mistake was Q3 run one. And his race pace was phenomenal. Had he not been long at the first stop. He would have been right on top of Max for the overcut at that point as well, such was his pace in clean air.
“So phenomenal for him, and the way he was defending to Lewis and controlling that was a class act, so to see him get that victory, it would be great for his confidence, and it puts him up third in the driver’s championship now. So I think he’s ahead of expectation. It’s great to have both cars up there obviously and I think that it’s an added string to our now on a day that you lose your lead car, that Sergio is right there, and to deliver the win, and that’s exactly what we’ve been looking for.
“So I’m delighted for him, you know pleased for the team for that amount of effort that’s been going on behind the scenes, and you know for our partners as well that are working incredibly hard. I think it’s just everybody doing their bit, and Checo being part of that,” summed up Horner, as he added on if he would retain Perez for beyond 2021.
“I’m really happy with the job that Sergio is doing,” said Horner. “We are only on race six out of 23 We’ve got plenty of time. He’s enjoying being in the team. He’s doing a great job and, and he just needs to keep doing what he is doing.”
Here’s Christian Horner on Toto Wolff’s comments
Here’s Sergio Perez on win, Christian Horner on his rise
Here’s Max Verstappen and Pirelli on tyre blowout