Sergio Perez has spoken out on the strain he was below in the beginning of the F1 2023 season, as he emerged as the one potential contender to a dominant Max Verstappen.
The Purple Bull driver and his team-mate have streaked forward of the competitors this yr thus far, profitable each race between them.
However Perez has not managed to take care of the identical consistency because the Dutchman, and has slipped again into the higher midfield a number of occasions after profitable two races early on.
Perez has insisted that that is partly all the way down to the automotive not at all times fully suiting his type of driving, and likewise mentioned that his confidence took a knock after some tough weekends.
In an interview with former Aston Martin strategist Bernie Collins for Sky Sports activities F1, Perez defined that difficulties have arisen when he doesn’t really feel ‘totally assured’ within the RB19.
He additionally mentioned that the beginning of this season felt ‘completely different’ when it comes to strain, as a result of it began so nicely for him.
Perez beat out Verstappen to take two wins, in Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan. However since that Baku race in April, the Mexican driver has not managed to greatest the Dutchman to the highest spot.
Requested by Collins, a former Racing Level colleague, what the strain felt like at the beginning of the season, Perez mentioned: “It was completely different this time clearly as a result of, you realize, we began the yr so excessive, so that you’re considering you’re a championship contender, you’ve received two races.
“Then, unexpectedly, you are feeling like, ‘Ah, this weekend doesn’t really feel prefer it did earlier than,’ so that you’re dropping confidence since you’re not totally assured with the automotive. In F1, if you happen to’re not totally assured with a automotive at 250kph right into a nook, then you might be doubting somewhat bit extra, and it’s what actually occurred in these moments.”
However the six-time race winner was decided to not give in, explaining that he’s eager to take care of optimistic momentum with Purple Bull for the remainder of the yr.
Perez mentioned: “It might be straightforward right here to take a seat again and say, ‘It’s too laborious for me,’ and so forth, however on the finish of the day you simply need to get on with it. Like I mentioned, I simply sit up for preserve this momentum going with the group.”
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