Sergio Perez, the Red Bull Racing driver, acknowledged the need to investigate the factors that led to a drop in performance during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Formula 1. Despite not being able to replicate his previous win at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, Perez once again showed an impressive performance and secured a 1-2 finish for Red Bull. Starting from third position for the second consecutive weekend, the Mexican driver took advantage of Red Bull’s dominance during the race and successfully overtook Charles Leclerc on the fourth lap. Despite Perez receiving a five-second penalty for an unsafe release, he maintained a comfortable lead over the Ferrari driver to secure second place.
Reflecting on the race, Perez commented: “We made significant progress. It was a shame that we qualified just off the front row, because we had a fantastic start. Unfortunately, Charles managed to hold his position and we couldn’t overtake him. However, it was a nice battle later in the race. The early appearance of the Safety Car made the race challenging and compromised, especially with the long duration of the hard tires. The lack of heat made us slide a lot at the beginning and it took some time to overtake Lewis and Lando.”
Despite Ferrari reducing the gap to Red Bull between the Bahrain Grand Prix and the Saudi Arabian one, Perez believes that the reigning champions have taken a step forward with their evolved RB20 car. He stated: “Overall, it’s a fantastic day for the team. The track in Saudi Arabia is very different from Bahrain, but we continue to show strength. We need to maintain this momentum. Compared to Bahrain, we have made improvements and still have some areas to refine. Our time will come.”
Perez, whose contract expires at the end of the season, aims to bounce back from a challenging previous campaign, where he finished 290 points behind Verstappen. Although he feels more comfortable with the 2024 Red Bull car, Perez admits he was puzzled by his drop in performance from practice to qualifying. When asked about areas for improvement compared to Bahrain, Perez replied: “I believe it’s the adjustments we made to the car. Last weekend’s race was tough in terms of how we managed it and the high level of tire degradation we experienced. However, we have identified the reasons behind it. Today’s race was strong because we were able to progress from Friday to the actual race. However, in qualifying, we took a step back. Understanding why we were slower than in FP2, even considering all factors, is the main focus of our weekend. We need to understand the reasons behind it and ensure we continue to progress.”
