Perez defends after criticism: 'Nobody knows how hard it is'

Sergio Perez disagrees with criticism of his 2023 performance. The Mexican is being blamed for not being able to compete with Max Verstappen for the world title. According to Perez, however, this is not so easy.

After the first four Grands Prix, it looked like Perez would be a candidate for the world title race. After four races, Perez had won two and was close to Verstappen in the championship. Perez himself also expressed the goal of becoming world champion, but from then on things went all wrong.

Perez wants to defend himself after criticism

Week after week, Perez made a mistake and the gap to Verstappen grew bigger and bigger. The pressure and criticism increased, but Perez now defends himself: "It has been the most complicated because I started fighting for the championship and it is not easy. People will never understand, what it's like to drive a car at 300 kph and not feel comfortable not knowing what the car is going to do in a corner, only the driver feels that. And I think that's the most complicated thing because we had a great car," said Perez in his press conference prio to the Mexican Grand Prix.

"It was increasingly difficult for me to get the most out of it with the settings. And that made it a very complicated season, with many ups and downs, inconstant. Very good times, but also very bad times during the year. I would tell you that it has been the most difficult season mentally, because as a driver you know that when you have difficult seasons you can get the most out of the car, but, this year for me it was not like that. I always had doubts with the car at many times."

Perez still has a contract until 2024 at Red Bull Racing, but a big question mark still hangs over his future. Red Bull is said to be looking for another driver and has even already spoken to Lando Norris. Daniel Ricciardo is also a potential replacement, but he is not showing at AlphaTauri as yet.

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