Red Bull’s Sergio Perez discusses adapting to the British team, and the disadvantages facing those switching teams in F1 2021.
Perez got his first chance to visit the Red Bull factory in January, following the team’s decision to sign him as a replacement for Alexander Albon in December of 2020. Since meeting them, the Mexican says the team ‘have been fantastic’ to him.
The 30-year-old says it was immediately apparent to him why Red Bull had been so dominant in the past. “The team has been fantastic, they’ve been really good to me, these stages, and I mean as soon as you arrive there you see the potential that it’s got and why they have been so successful in the past, so looking forward to this year and grow together as a team,” said Perez in the press conference.
It hasn’t been easy for Perez still, who has found adapting to Red Bull challenging, especially after seven years with the same Silverstone-based team, which has undergone two name changes since his arrival there. The Mexican reckons that it will take about five full races to be there on the mark.
“Everything is so different,” said Perez. “The way you speak about the front wing is just different. The suspension works so different. So, there are a lot of things that you have to get on top of, and then you have to adapt your drawing style as well to a different car. It’s just normal, I think that it takes a bit of time.
“As for my adaptability, it’s hard to pick a number – I think after five races [it should be good]. Once we go to very different races, different conditions, you understand the car and the team a lot better. I think five races, proper races, should be good,” summed up Perez, who added about the difference between Red Bull joining and McLaren.
“I just think that in general there is a lot of hope, that and there is definitely good direction and the team is solid,” Perez said to F1 website. “When I came to McLaren, I think it was probably the wrong time for the team as well.
“It was a year when everything went backwards. I don’t think driving-wise I did bad. I out-qualified Jenson there and so on. So I think in general it was a good stint but they were other political factors in it,” summed up Perez.
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