Red Bull the chance for Perez: 'If it doesn't work now, it will never work again'

F1 News

4 April 2021 at 17:03
Last update 4 April 2021 at 19:29
  • GPblog.com

With his arrival at Red Bull Racing, Sergio Perez has a place at a top team for the first time since 2013 [then with McLaren]. He is expected to compete for wins.

Political games

When Perez comes to McLaren as Lewis Hamilton's replacement, the team is just having a difficult year. Neither Perez nor teammate Jenson Button achieved any podiums and at the end of the season, Perez left.

According to Perez, when he had to leave the team, there was a lot of politics involved in particular. "From the driver's side, it wasn't that bad. I was too fast for him [Button] in qualifying, so you could see I had the speed," Perez told Planet F1. "But there were other things going on and I learned from that."

New opportunity at Red Bull

As a teammate of Max Verstappen, Perez gets a new chance at a top team. "I think I have become a more complete and rounded driver. If it doesn't work now, it will never work again."

The Grand Prix winner has had a positive first impression of the Dutchman. "He's just about going as hard as possible and outside the car he's pretty chill," Perez described his teammate. "We work well together and give similar feedback on what we want and which direction we want to go. I definitely think I can learn a lot from Max and hopefully vice versa."

Win in Mexico

In any case, Perez already has a dream for this year; winning in Mexico. "I know the car in Mexico is always good. Red Bull has won a lot of Grands Prix there, so you have to imagine that if I can win that race, that will be something very big for me," the Mexican driver dreamed. "But from now on we just have to deliver race by race and make sure that when we are there, we are in a very strong position in the championship as well."