Sergio Perez is entering his fourth year driving for the world championship team Red Bull Racing. For much of that time he has been under scrutiny for his failure to come close to the performances of his team mate Max Verstappen.

The Mexican driver is one of thirteen on the current F1 grid who is out of contract at the end of this year and Checo is hoping he can at least match his result of P2 in the drivers’ championship in 2023 to secure another year with the Milton Keynes based squad.

 

 

 

Ricciardo lined up to replace Perez

Following the McLaren sacking of Daniel Ricciardo a year before his contract expired, Christian Horner was quick to sign up the Aussie favourite last season as a reserve driver for the two Red Bull owned F1 teams. Many F1 observers believed Ricciardo had been recruited to replace Perez given the Aussie had faired better against Verstappen than any other driver when they had been paired together at Red Bull between 2016 and 2018.

Yet Perez rallied towards the end of last season and finished the year behind Verstappen giving RBR their first ever 1-2 in the drivers’ championship. Ricciardo has now been awarded the full time drive in the newly branded Visa Cash App Racing Bull’s outfit alongside Honda sponsored Yuki Tsunoda.

Checo’s achilles heel during his tenure alongside Verstappen has proven to be qualifying and last year he failed to make Q3 on seven occasions despite his RB19 car being the class of the field.

This was highlighted by Christian Horner speaking at the season finale in Abu Dhabi last year. The Red Bull boss commented he was pleased with Perez’s race day efforts but his driver often made life more difficult for himself with sub-par qualifying performances.

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Horner wants improved qualifying

“I think the last few races he’s had a bit of a reset,” Horner said. “His pace, when you look at the analysis through [the Abu Dhabi] weekend, again was very, very strong. He’s just got to sort his Saturdays out.”

At the first qualifying session of this year in Bahrain, Sergio made it into final qualifying and finished the session P5 for the race on Saturday. His best Q3 time was around 0.35 seconds slower than his team mate in the same RB20 car, but importantly Checo was just over a tenth of a second slower than Charles Leclerc who will start P2 alongside Verstappen in the Grand Prix.

When asked if the pace of the Red Bull car was encouraging, perez replied: “Yeah, definitely. It’s been a positive day for the for the team.”

Yet it seems Checo could have been much closer to the front but for a mistake he made as he began his final push lap.

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Perez “messed up” Bahrain qualifying

“From my side, I messed up Turn 1, and lost a tenth and a bit. And that was enough to take me from probably P2 or P3. We’ve seen the gaps,” revealed the Mexican.

Yet the problem began for Sergio in the second qualifying session when he wasted a set of new soft tyres. This meant like Leclerc his first run in the pole position shootout was on scrubbed tyres which give the driver a different feel from the brand new ones out of the heating blankets.

“It was also a shame that we lost the second set into Q2 without a need. We ended up aborting. It was already a scrubbed tyre, but anyway, plenty of things to look forward for tomorrow,” concluded Perez. Yet if messing up sees Perez in P5 to start the race, this is surely an improvement on his 2023 performances.

Checo struggled at times last year with the balance of the all conquering RB19 crashing out of qualifying in Q1 both in Australia and Monaco. Yet he feels this year’s car is better suited to his driving style and was upbeat over its future potential.

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RB20 has “good potential”

“I feel there is good potential, and there is good understanding,” he said. “I think we’re making good progress. It’s the first time we’ve run it at such a light fuel, and even through qualifying we were making some good progress.”

Checo rues his turn one mistake but believes the race pace of his RB20 will prove better than the competition which gives him hope for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

“It’s a shame that in the end we didn’t get to show it. But I think we are in a much better position, and also our race pace is better. So let’s see where we end up tomorrow.”

Unlike the at times unpredictable RB19 Sergio reckons this year’s car is better balanced.

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Red Bull 2024 car better suits Perez

“I think the entry stability is better,” he said. “It’s obviously still a Red Bull car. But I think it’s where we’re taking good steps.”

Having won two of the first four races last year, Perez was in the hunt for the drivers’ world title until his qualifying woes put that to an end. Yet the Red Bull driver is already positive over the coming year stating, “I think we’ve started the season strongly. The result might not show it, but it’s just a matter of putting everything together. We are in a good position for tomorrow, having that flexibility with the softs. We have good tyres for tomorrow.”

The all new 2022 ground effect cars were intended to ensure following another car was easier and damaged the tyres of the pursuing driver less than before. Yet Checo suggests this year’s cars have made a retrograde step in this area.

“I think following has become a little bit harder. So it will be interesting to be with cars around, and see what it’s like. It’s a really, really close out there. I think tomorrow we will still learn a lot, all of us, so it’s important to complete the race distance, and then go from there.”

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Ricciardo struggles in Bahrain

When asked about the distraction of the Christian Horner saga, Sergio downplayed the matter claiming: “Everyone is fully focused. I mean, we are a race team. And everyone in the team comes here to race, and that’s our main focus for us.”

Meanwhile Daniel Ricciardo who hopes to replace Checo in the Red Bull team had a poor day in qualifying. He failed to make it into Q3 and starts the race in P14, three p[laces behind his Racing Bull’s team mate Yuki Tsunoda.

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