Perez surprised by RB20: 'But it's going to be exciting up front'

Sergio Perez is surely not hoping for a repeat of 2023. The Red Bull Racing Mexican started the season excellently then - with two wins in the first four Grands Prix - but was unable to match his teammate Max Verstappen as the season progressed.

With the RB20 now on the track, Perez can already compare last year's and this year's car. The first impression is fine, he says in response to questions from GPblog in Bahrain: "I think at the moment it has some similar bits [with last years car], but we've done a good step forward so I'm really, really happy with the level of car that Red Bull has given me."

Perez is immediately at ease

Perez also immediately felt fine in the once again Adrian Newey-designed car. "Yeah, straight away, but like I said, my run programme [during the test] was slightly different, so I couldn't learn as much about the car because I was basically straight into a long run. And you're always still learning the car and so on. But it's interesting. There is a lot of potential in the car."

The vice-world champion even claims to be surprised how Red Bull is already so competitive with the RB20 straight away, even though the car has undergone major changes from the RB19. "Yeah, it was unbelievable. When Max got in [during the test] and basically we hit the ground running, it was really impressive to see. As I said, let's see what happens this weekend, but I do expect us to be strong. I think things are looking well, but as always, everything is going to be really tight at the front."