Sergio Perez feels he is at his best at this stage of his career after securing his career best championship result in 2022 where he also had a chance of title.
Perez ended up third in the championship and it could have been second at one stage, had it gone his way. He even had a chance of actually fighting for the title earlier in the 2022 F1 season but for some misfortune and the rise of Max Verstappen.
But nevertheless, it was his best season in 12 years at the pinnacle of Motor-Sport to end up in the Top 3. The reliability issues in the opening races set him back but he was consistent throughout the season which kept him in the hunt and of course he won the Jewel in the Crown at Monaco too.
“Certainly it started really well,” said Perez. “Some reliability issues in the beginning, but things were looking up on track. We were in the mix for the championship early on. Certainly I had a couple of bad races that really put me off contention for the championship”.
“So there is some work to do in that regard together with the team to make sure that we can keep that consistency throughout and that we can come back next year and fight for the title, if we were to have a similar level of car for next year. So yeah, it’s important that we finish our season on a high so that we can come back next year and start strong throughout the season,” summed up Perez.
It was his best season for sure, and of course he was in a fight for second right up to the last day of the season but beaten by Charles Leclerc. So much was said of course about Verstappen helping or not as the case may be at Interlagos – although even with that he would have lost by one point.
But despite it now being the winter break, 2023 is really just around the corner. For Perez, there is still a lot to do and a lot to be proud of. “I’m constantly working on it,” he said. “And I think it really depends on how comfortable I am at the start of the season with the car, as I was in the beginning of the season, then it slipped away”.
“So I think as Formula 1 drivers, we are constantly working for new challenges, all the time. But I do feel at this time I’m pretty much at my best. And yeah, I really want to carry it on for the last two races and start next year on a very high,” summed up Perez.
It was a good effort and first and third in the drivers’ title race was not to be sniffed at. Perez will no doubt hope for a better start to the campaign than 2022. But he will be on his toes to match or better Verstappen with the threat of Daniel Ricciardo always looming since Red Bull signed him up as reserve.
Here’s Red Bull celebrating at Milton Keynes
Here’s them collecting their trophies
Here’s Christian Horner on Mattia Binotto’s exit
Here’s Max Verstappen on Imola weekend being game changer
Here’s Daniel Ricciardo on F1 podcast
Here’s Mattia Binotto on Red Bull advantage
Here’s Honda Thanks Day
Here’s Christian Horner on handling Brazil badly
Here’s Christian Horner crediting Red Bull people for 2022 success
Here’s potential earning of Red Bull drivers
