Perez struggled next to Verstappen: 'The Red Bull car was then undriveable'

Last season Red Bull Racing decided not to continue with Perez. Verstappen got a new teammate, while the Mexican was not to race in Formula 1 for a year. Meanwhile, his replacement, Liam Lawson, was also replaced by Yuki Tsunoda. After one year off the paddock, Sergio Perez will come back along with Valtteri Bottas giving life to a historical lineup.

Perez openly discussed his struggles at Red Bull: “As you can imagine this year has been a lot better than the previous year, so I'm sure I look a bit fresher in that regard. A lot fresher. It was a lot of weight on my shoulders the last year, but I really felt, I mean I don't feel like I got nothing to prove because you know, what has happened in my previous team has shown already what were the struggles that I had. But to me, the main drive factor that I'm back is because I want to enjoy. Like you say, you know, I have a lot of love from the fans."

The former teammate of Verstappen was then asked if he feels his popularity has risen now that the other Red Bull drivers are also struggling. Perez responded to this: "I think, you know, it's just the whole dynamics of the team, you know, everything is driven, obviously they have a unique talent over there with Max and everything is Yeah, when you get there, the development curve they have, it's very difficult for the second driver that is there to basically adapt to the car"

Perez continued by pointing to Lawson and Tsunoda, who also struggled and are struggling with the driving style of the car: “It's just a very unique driving style. Sometimes I could cope with it, I could adapt to it, but as soon as there was a variable with the rain, with the wind or something, it just became undriveable. And then you start making mistakes one after the other. You still lose, you are losing confidence. but mentally I was super strong and that's why I survived there for so long, you know, because I did have a lot of pressure and a lot of you guys were onto me and now you realize that the job I've done in that car and that team."