"The problems we had this year gave me a better understanding of what I was doing with the settings, how I was setting the car up, what direction I should go when I had problems. So this is something that will definitely make us stronger next year."
Sergio Perez heads into the 2024 F1 season with less than a year left on his Red Bull contract and fighting for his right to continue challenging Max Verstappen as his team-mate
Sergio Perez has admitted he “regressed” during a challenging 2023 season and knows what he needs to do this year to keep his Red Bull seat.
The Mexican actually began 2023 strongly, winning two of the first four races. It looked like the start of a bona fide title challenge to his team-mate Max Verstappen – but he was soon brought crashing back down to earth.
Max Verstappen destroyed his team-mates confidence by winning the Miami race from ninth, even though Perez had started on pole. And that began a spiral for the second Red Bull driver who struggled to find any sort of consistency.
That is what Perez knows he must find more of this term if he is to win a new contract. Speaking to Auto Hebdo, the 33-year-old admitted he probably even went backwards over the course of last season.
“I want to be able to achieve regularity, to build momentum,” he said. “I think what we missed this year is progression. We started the year very high, tied with Max, but we were not able to progress throughout the season. We have sometimes even regressed.
“So, I think that will be my main priority – to be able to progress throughout the season, whatever my starting point. It is important that, weekend after weekend, we continue to evolve and improve.”
Perez ended the season in second place in the drivers’ championship. It marked the first time Red Bull have ever had both their drivers finish in the top two places and, on the face of it, it was probably the best result he could have hoped for.
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But his two wins were dwarfed by the 19 managed by Verstappen. Over the course of the campaign, Perez scored fewer than half the number of points managed by his team-mate. The battle was far too one sided and the Mexican thinks the problem, in part at least, was his car set-up struggles.
He added: “I had a few bad weekends. We started the year very strong in the first five or six races, but then we couldn’t progress with the car. This is something I missed this year and want to massively improve next year.
“The problems we had this year gave me a better understanding of what I was doing with the settings, how I was setting the car up, what direction I should go when I had problems. So this is something that will definitely make us stronger next year.”
