Bernie Collins who has previously worked with Sergio Perez, at Force India and Racing Point, believes that the latter has really put in a lot of effort while driving for Red Bull. Perez had run out of his contract towards the end of 2020, however, when he claimed the win in Sakhir after starting at P20, Red Bull offered him a seat.
The Mexican is the longest-standing teammate of Max Verstappen. Whether it was Daniel Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly, or Alex Albon, all of them parted ways with Red Bull after a short period. Sergio Perez is currently the second-fastest driver on the 2024 F1 grid.
While talking about what strategy Perez has applied to keep up with the Dutchman this year, Bernie Collins had the following to say.
So I think he’s just thinking, ‘I just need to [go] all guns blazing and not worry so much about it’. I almost wonder if the moment that they start to cut that back, can they perform on anything near the same level? Like, the moment they start to worry about not crashing the car or whatever, do they lose too much? There were times last year when performance wasn’t good enough in qualifying. He’s really driven. He’s really, really driven. Bernie Collins said on Fast and Curious Podcast
Recently, there have been a lot of questions raised about Perez’s potential. However, despite all the noise, he is very composed. He has entered this season with the sole goal of only focusing on his performance. He genuinely feels that if he takes care of his on-track performances, the rest will fall right into place by itself.
Sergio Perez quotes Carlos Sainz while talking about Red Bull’s improvements
Recently, Sergio Perez jokingly referenced Carlos Sainz‘s famous radio message from 2022, while he discussed the improvements he and Red Bull have made over the winter break. Unfortunately, despite being the second-fastest driver on the grid last season, the 34-year-old had a rollercoaster ride.
Sergio Perez was only able to score 285 points in comparison to Verstappen’s 575.
Like Carlos [Sainz] would say, we stopped inventing. We were playing around with the car far too much and just going through it and I think now we have a much better base. We are a lot happier, and the weekends just progress. Sergio Perez told: Formula1
This season, Sergio Perez is off to a better start and has to perform consistently to keep his Red Bull seat. The team has given him till summer break, and so far he has managed to keep the team on his side. There are still 20 races remaining in the ongoing 2024 F1 calendar.
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