Sergio Perez says Red Bull’s motivation is “sky high” in Formula 1 this year due to the knowledge that it can target victory at each race with the RB16B.
Max Verstappen claimed pole position at the opening event in Bahrain, before narrowly missing out on the win, though dominated proceedings at Imola to register victory.
Perez surged from the back to fifth spot on his Red Bull debut and followed it up with his maiden front-row start at Imola, though his race prospects unravelled amid a penalty and a spin.
“The motivation is sky high,” said Perez. “The way we work at Red Bull, we prepare our race weekend to take the maximum from it because we know if we do everything right we have a realistic chance of winning the race.
“Everyone in the team is also pushing really hard to try to improve the RB16B so we can maximise every single weekend with both cars – that’s the target.
“Imola was a missed opportunity as I think we should have finished 1-2 but hopefully we can achieve that this weekend.”
Perez went on to express confidence that he can be a more competitive proposition at this weekend’s Portuguese Grand Prix.
“Imola is a pretty tough track to get on top of and maximise, especially if you’ve recently swapped teams, but in Portugal I hope to be in the mix and get everything out of the car,” he said.
“We know what the car is capable of and the goal is to deliver on its potential. The positive is that the pace is there, we just need to continue building on our form and take another step forward.
“Obviously the more work you put in, the more you get out, so I analyse, I make notes, I speak to the engineers and I watch back footage. Everything you do just helps get you as ready as possible.
“You can see with everyone that has changed teams this year, it takes time to get up to speed. Everyone is good, everyone is exceptionally fast, it’s just a process you need to go through before everything comes to you naturally and hopefully we can achieve that in the opening races of the season.”
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