Perez: "That created a gap to Max"

Sergio Perez finished third in this year's world championship. The Mexican thus performed better than in 2021, although he himself feels he did not get everything out of it. The 32-year-old driver is entering his third year at Red Bull Racing next year and that is going to be to his advantage, he believes.

“It started very difficult with the reliability that we had early on at the beginning of the season but I think later on we were quite competitive, we were very consistent and then we had a few bad races that put us behind Max but we still managed to get some good points, some good podiums, a few wins and I think we got our season back on track for the final eight or so races, so it was an intense battle towards the end with Charles and Ferrari," Perez told the press conference ahead of the FIA gala. In the end, Max Verstappen's teammate was four points short of finishing as runner-up in the world championship.

Perez getting used at Red Bull

Especially in the first part of the season, Perez seemed to fly and become a serious challenger in the battle for the World Championship title. “It was a lot better, getting into a new team is pretty intense, especially joining a team during the covid times made it a little more difficult, and getting to know everyone around me was tricky."

Meanwhile, Perez feels a lot better in place. "I can just feel things are getting better. This morning I had a good breakfast with my engineers and we can all feel that we are so much more prepared every year that we are together so things are heading in the right direction." In 2023, Perez will again go for the world title, but the competition is not tough once again.