Sergio Perez admits Red Bull changes needed as Max Verstappen's life made easier

09 September 2023 , 00:00

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Sergio Perez has again been outshone by Max Verstappen at Red Bull (Image: Getty Images)

Sergio Perez said he has had to adapt his driving style as Red Bull's development of their car has taken it further from his comfort zone yet again.

The Mexican has, once again, played second fiddle to team-mate Max Verstappen this year. The defending champion is cruising unchallenged towards his third consecutive Formula 1 title and is on a record-breaking streak of 10 race wins in a row.

It didn't look like it was going to be quite so simple for the Dutchman after the first four races of the season. Perez won two of them and was living up to his pledge to give his team-mate a real fight this year.

However, a poor patch of form, particularly in qualifying, derailed his fledgling title challenge early on. Like everyone else, he is resigned to fighting to finish best of the rest behind Verstappen in every race at the moment.

Perez has made plenty of mistakes, particularly at his lowest ebb which began when he crashed in qualifying at Monaco – ending his chances of points that weekend. But he also feels his life has been made harder by his team's development of the RB19 car.

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"I think every driver through their careers or through each season, you get some upgrades to the car that adapt easier to your driving style than others," he said. Sometimes you will put a part in it and you will straight away go faster with it. Sometimes you will have to adapt to it.

"It's something that we are all facing through our times during the season with our upgrades. I haven't been able to adapt as quickly as I should and I had to change my driving style to adapt to the car more than at the beginning of the season, for example. when things were coming more naturally. But that's something that most drivers at some point will go through."

It is an issue which Perez is all too familiar with. Last year, Red Bull admitted that the car was moving further and further away from the optimum for the Mexican's preferred style which, again, meant Verstappen had one less challenger to worry about for the most part.

"It is multiple factors," said technical director Pierre Waché when explaining why Perez's form had dipped mid-season. "The main factor is clearly the car balance and the confidence with a car, compared to the beginning of the year when the car was a little bit more balanced for him and a little bit less for Max.

"And, after the development potential we have put on the car during the season, moving away from that is maybe a part of it. Finding a right set-up for him, it is quite difficult, to put him as confident as he could be to beat, or to fight with Max."

Daniel Moxon