At least until now, Max Verstappen has only one serious contender for the world title. And that someone is Sergio Perez. The Mexican driver, after an excellent start to the season in which he collected two wins, was the author of an important mistake in qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix which conditioned his whole weekend.
While he was intent on trying the last fast lap of Q1, which arrived at the Santa Devota braking point, the Mexican made a mistake and ended up arriving too quickly at the entrance to the right-hand corner. That sent the #11 RB19 sliding into the barriers, ending his hopes of repeating last year’s success.
A serious mistake especially for his title hopes. Max Verstappen dominated qualifying and the race, bringing home a victory that seems to have placed a tombstone on the hopes of his rivals of being able to challenge him in the race for the 2023 world title. Perez, however, still believes in his chances, especially after analyzing what happened in Q1 in Monte-Carlo.
“It’s difficult, but the most important thing about what happened in Monaco is accepting when you make a mistake as a driver. You have to raise your hands and apologize to the team, first of all. Then you need to learn from your mistakes, understand what has happened. And all this has been done”.
“I learned that probably I should have done things easier. Everything was done too late, it was a combination of things and we decided last minute to do that ride, and then I had an Alpine just ahead of me and I was bothered by the wind while braking. So, in hindsight, next time in Q1 we won’t make those kind of decisions. That will help us for sure. Also I should have done a better job of preventing the problem”.
Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB19
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
“I still believe in the title, because the speed is there. Even if the Monaco incident didn’t help. If I had been half a second or a second slower I would have been more worried, but the positive thing is linked to my performance, I was fast. For now I’m focused on doing race after race, I want to win and bring home victories”.
Perez still has confidence, he thinks he has chances due to a better approach to the RB19 than the one he had during 2022 with the RB18. The innovations introduced 12 months ago went towards Verstappen’s needs, while this year – without the big weight loss required in 2022 – Perez thinks he can continue to make good use of the single-seater until the end of the year.
“This year I’ve adapted much better to the single-seater than last year. I understand the problems, I have a better approach to the races in terms of preparation and understanding. This is the most positive thing about my season. Last year we were 15 kilograms overweight and the car has changed so much since the beginning of the season. Now I think we will have a much more normal season than last season in terms of new things. Now I have to make sure I’m able to extract the most from the updates we have.”
“We have a very good package, which works very well on all tracks. We are certainly moving very well, in the right direction,” concluded the Mexican.
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