Perez gets his hopes up and is confident he'll be 'closer to Verstappen'

In the opening race in Bahrain, the gap between the two Red Bull Racing teammates was more than 22 seconds. In Jeddah, Sergio Perez expects to get a lot closer to the Dutchman. In addition, the Mexican reveals that the RB20 is not a comfortable car for him.

In previous seasons, the gap between Verstappen and Perez was wide. Verstappen actually managed to consistently beat the Mexican. In Bahrain, the gap was large in the race and was over three-tenths behind in qualifying. He had to make his way through the field from fifth place. In the end, he did manage to finish second and ensured Red Bull took home maximum points.

Perez will be closer to Verstappen in Jeddah

This result was good enough for Christian Horner. As long as Perez can achieve a second place then Red Bull's leaders are happy with the Mexican. The 34-year-old himself is not satisfied with his performance in Bahrain. "Overall it was a good race. In qualifying it wasn't a perfect lap. I didn't put it together. I should have been on the front row or third. You're talking about a tenth or so. So I think just tidying things up also in the race, we didn't have the right configuration with our setups. We were not great at looking after the tyre. Then I found my position. My race was basically against Carlos more than against Max. So it was all about just maintaining the gap. I was on the soft at the end, so I had to make sure that I made it home safely."

In 2023, Perez managed to win the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix. Verstappen came second then. The Mexican expects to be a lot closer to the reigning world champion in Jeddah than in Bahrain. "Yeah, definitely. I think already in Bahrain, we were closer than the race. I think hopefully we are able to start a lot closer together. That will be my target… to take two steps from Bahrain and move forward."

Perez is keeping his spirits up and still wants to become world champion. "There are 23 races left. You cannot fight for a championship by winning just one race. So, I think it's important that we understand things that we could have done better in Bahrain. Learn from that and really keep that trajectory going upwards and become more competitive race by race because everyone will be taking a step forward from Bahrain, so we have to take two steps."

RB20 not to Perez's liking

The fact that there has always been a big gap between Verstappen and Perez has caused speculation. Many people thought the car was geared to Verstappen and built to his preferences. The team has denied this on several occasions. Still, Perez indicates that the RB20 is not to his liking. "Let's say the car is not super comfortable for me. But I understand a lot more. We understand a lot more on how to maximise the performance out of the car. So I think that's something quite good for us."