The 2023 season has seen Sergio Perez experience some of his toughest moments as an F1 driver. With Max Verstappen as his teammate, Perez has struggled to match him in terms of performance. This has led to numerous rumors about him losing his Red Bull seat next season. Perez, however, is sure that the worst is behind him and is confident about closing up to Verstappen, as per F1 Maximaal.
At one point this season, Perez failed to get into Q3 for five races in a row. This was a disaster, especially because he was driving the RB19, with which Verstappen was cruising to victories. Even though he did make up for his qualifying results by performing well in the races, Red Bull wasn’t comfortable with how things were unfolding.
Nevertheless, Christian Horner and Helmut Marko backed him publicly and fortunately for the Mexican driver, his performances have drastically improved over the last few races. He also seems to have found his confidence back and feels that his slump is now behind him.
Sergio Perez confident about catching up to Max Verstappen
In terms of form, no driver comes close to Max Verstappen at the moment. In Monza last Sunday, the Dutchman created history by becoming the first driver to win 10 consecutive races in F1. No one else on the grid has come close to threatening Verstappen’s dominance so far this campaign, but Perez for one, feels he was close to his teammate in Italy.
‘I think the bad moments are now behind us, and I feel much more comfortable with the car,” the 33-year-old said. “It’s hard for me to get there every weekend, but I’m no doubt pretty close. And I hope I can stay at this level in the coming races.”
The next round of the 2023 F1 season sees the sport move to Asia, with the Singapore GP. Red Bull, and Perez will have particularly fond memories of the Marina Bay Street Circuit from 12 months ago, and will be hoping to replicate them in two weeks time.
Perez looks to replace Singapore GP heroics
Last year, Sergio Perez started the Singapore GP from P2 on the grid, but ended the evening on top. He held off Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, to ensure a dominant victory under the lights, in what is one of the most physically demanding circuits of the year.
This season, Perez will be hoping for something similar. Considering how confident he feels on the car at the moment, him aiming for a victory won’t be anything out of the ordinary. However, as Perez himself admitted, Red Bull’s chances in Singapore this year could be slim, if things don’t go their way.
Ferrari in particular, have shown that they can be fast in street circuits. As a result, Leclerc and Sainz will be looking to take that extra step, and dethrone Red Bull as F1 enters its Asian leg.
