Perez under no pressure with Ricciardo in the team says the Mexican as he reveals his feelings now the former Red Bull driver has returned. At Red Bull, Mexican Sergio Perez feels absolutely no extra pressure knowing that Daniel Ricciardo is now in the team and could be vying for his Formula 1 seat for 2024.
Sergio Perez says he feels no extra pressure knowing that Daniel Ricciardo – a former Red Bull, Renault and McLaren driver – is now a reserve driver at Red Bull.
As he prepares to start his third season at Red Bull alongside Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez has never been in a position to challenge for the world championship, with the Mexican having fallen well short of his team-mate in 2021 and 2022.
Pressure from within the team
When asked ahead of the new season if he feels any extra pressure knowing that Daniel Ricciardo is now third driver at Red Bull, Checo – quoted by the F1 website – said, “No, because when you are at Red Bull Racing you have to give your best; it doesn’t matter if Daniel is there or not, Red Bull can choose pretty much any driver they want on the grid.”
“I think we are very lucky to have Daniel,” added Perez. “With his level of experience, we can bring him into the factory with the engineers, and when we talk about the car he will really understand what we are talking about.”
“I think it’s great to have someone like him and I think during the race weekends he will be a great help.”
Regarding his goals for the 2023 season, Sergio Perez still aspires to become world champion for the first time in his career, and when asked if he thinks he can achieve that this year, the Mexican said, “That will be my goal.”
“I will do everything I can with my team to be able to achieve it. I had a nice break [this winter], and now I’m fully recharged and looking forward to this new season.”
“I will definitely work a lot on consistency so that I can have a good platform, one that can work on pretty much every circuit.”
“The most important thing is to work as a team.” he adds. “It’s very clear, we want to maximise the team effort. It’s not just Max [Verstappen] and myself, we’re talking about the whole team. We have so many guys in the factory who give everything for us, so we have to react to that.”
“From my side, I’m working very hard with the engineers to make sure we are able to take the next step.” concluded Perez.
Sergio Perez – who started with the Red Bull team in 2021 – will drive alongside Max Verstappen for two more seasons until the end of the 2024 campaign.
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