“The fact that he has driven many seasons with the Mercedes engine “- Red Bull reveals what made Red Bull sign except for his skills.
Helmut Marko in an interview with Motorsport-Total revealed several decisions made by Red Bull in the last few months, which also includes Sergio Perez’s signing in December.
Now, Red Bull chief has also told that Perez driving on a Mercedes engine for the past few years helped the Mexican grabbing a seat in his highly desired team.
“The first thing that spoke was the unbelievable form curve to which he has risen,” said Marko. “I think this has certainly been his best season ever since he’s been in Formula 1. That’s one thing.
“The other is: in the race, he won, [George] Russell didn’t get significantly closer in the Mercedes despite having better tyres. To be able to judge that pace, to drive just fast enough to keep the opponent in check without overloading the tyres,
“He [Perez] has proved that very well in a couple of races. He also had bad luck a few times, for example when he retired in third place in Bahrain.”
“And then there is the fact that he has driven many seasons with the Mercedes engine and knows about it driveability and responsiveness. All these things spoke for him.
“[Nico] Hulkenberg was last with Renault. You probably can’t use the three races he drove with the Mercedes engine, because he was more busy adjusting to the car than collecting data.”
Two front war
Marko also said that Red Bull felt a desire for a strong driver before heading into 2021, while they have to lessen the gap against Mercedes, they also have to crop out the growing threat caused by McLaren’s recent developments.
“You have to assume that McLaren will make a step forward with the Mercedes engine and that Renault and Ferrari will probably come on as well,” he said.
“If you’re five-tenths behind in qualifying, you’re not fourth, you’re seventh or eighth. And that makes you worthless for the team in the sense that you can’t be used for strategic games.
“In Abu Dhabi, Mercedes couldn’t do anything [strategy wise], or only with a lot of risks. [Valtteri] Bottas would have been the one to put on soft tyres, but he would have fallen behind Albon and overtaking on the Abu Dhabi circuit is notoriously difficult.
“Because Albon drove a very good race and was very close to the Mercedes, they couldn’t play their usual strategy. We want to be world champions again next year. So we need a strong pairing with whom we can pull out all the stops in terms of strategy as well.”
