The 2023 season has been a bittersweet one for Sergio Perez. The Mexican driver finished the year in a much-needed P2 in the Drivers’ Championship, but also at the same time got blown away by Max Verstappen’s onslaught. The seriousness of the jeopardy was enormous, so much so, that his seat at Red Bull came under threat!
Now, coming into 2024, Perez reveals the reason behind his failure to keep up with the three-time world champion last year. The 34-year-old admitted that dethroning Verstappen seemed tough and to make it work, Perez’s car needed drastic development. Once done, the development unfortunately took a counter-productive turn and made the car slower!
On the recent F1: Beyond The Grid podcast episode, Perez said, “It was more about developing the car… So naturally as it was so early in the season, so to make compromises, to make you feel comfortable, in that window of making me comfortable I think we made the car slower on our side.”
Perez’s mechanics faced a similar fate to Mercedes. The Silver Arrows engineers had to deal with W13’s porpoising and make the drivers comfortable the next year in W14. As a result, the comfort arrived at the expense of the performance. However, Perez’s RB19 did not have the porpoising, but discomfort. As admitted by the Mexican driver, bringing comfort in the car took away the optimum performance he had at the beginning of the season.
Perez’s start of 2023 was fascinating. The #11 driver was on an even keel with Verstappen after claiming two wins in the first four races. However, he began to lose his footing as the season went on. In the end, Verstappen claimed 17 more wins from there on to crush his opponents. Whereas, Perez had to stay happy with podiums.
How did Sergio Perez’s dream season turn into a nightmare?
After winning two out of four races, Sergio Perez hoped to contest the F1 world championship against Max Verstappen. However, the bid to outperform the Dutchman, in a Red Bull, proved too much for him to handle. So much so, that his seat for 2024 had come up in jeopardy.
Perez’s misfortune began from the 2023 Miami Grand Prix where Verstappen came from P9 to snatch the win from his pole position. Most importantly, the race in Monaco crushed his confidence after the former Force India driver crashed in Q1 and finished outside of points.
By the season’s end, Sergio Perez amassed 285 points, two wins, two pole positions, and nine podiums. When compared to Verstappen, they were nowhere close to the defending champion’s accolades. The 26-year-old claimed 19 wins, 12 pole positions, 21 podiums and 575 points.
Even though the 34-year-old kept P2 in the championship, the reality was far from the truth. Verstappen’s points haul was almost twice the points Perez amassed, that too driving the same car. This made experts question his talent and cast a shadow over his future at Milton Keynes.
Despite talks about his seat being given to Daniel Ricciardo or Liam Lawson, Christian Horner, fortunately for him, revealed that Perez would start alongside Max Verstappen in 2024, as he secured P2 and has a contract till the end of the ’24.
Sergio Perez’s performance nearing the end of last season might also be a reason for Red Bull Racing to have their faith in the driver. The race in Brazil and Las Vegas saw the Mexican fire up his RB19 and finish in P4, and P3, respectively. Sadly, he missed out on a podium narrowly against Fernando Alonso in Sao Paulo and P2 against Charles Leclerc in Las Vegas.
