Perez wants battle with Verstappen: 'Anything can happen from now'

We have heard Sergio Pérez say it before: this year, I will and can challenge Max Verstappen for the world title. The Mexican has learned from those messages because, ahead of the new season in Bahrain, he chooses his words a lot more carefully.

"I think we grew a lot last year. We understood a lot of our deficits that we had towards the end of last year," explained Perez to GPblog and others. "At the same time, I think a lot of things have been improved compared to last year. So it should be a lot more positive in that regard."

The 34-year-old driver was then asked how easier is it for him now in terms of mindset compared to the final months of last year when he only got off to a mediocre start in the RB19. "We all start from zero. It's a long championship, and anything can happen from now on. So I think it's important just to be able to maximise weekend by weekend and keep chipping away."

Record F1 season

The Formula 1 season will be 24 races long. "I think it's a long process that we are trying to basically put some points across. Not only for the drivers, to be honest. There are a lot of mechanics and engineers that basically travel the world. Weekend after weekend, a lot of hours on the planes," he concluded.