Sergio Perez has pinpointed how a “really deep” analysis back at Red Bull’s factory after the Qatar Grand Prix provided the main turning point of his 2023 Formula 1 campaign.
Perez had opened the year promisingly with two wins in the opening four races to close to within a solitary point of team-mate Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship.
But after being beaten from pole position by Verstappen, who started down in 10th, in Miami, a crash early in qualifying in Monaco triggered a run of five straight Q3 absences.
The Mexican’s torrid mid-season slump would culminate with a disastrous Qatar GP in October that saw him trail home 10th and 80.1s behind race winner Verstappen, who had secured the title during Saturday’s Sprint race with five rounds remaining at that point.
Having been at threat of losing second place, Perez rebounded to scoop one more podium finish in Las Vegas to secure the runners-up place in the standings with a race to spare.
Perez, who ended the season 290 points adrift of Verstappen, reveals that his troubles had stemmed from going down the wrong avenue on set-up and then getting “lost”.
“I had a really deep one in Qatar where I went back to the factory for like a week and went through it very much indeed with all the engineers,” he divulged in Abu Dhabi.
“And we understood a lot of things that we were doing to compensate the weaknesses that we had and we were probably taking the wrong approach with the car and trying to compensate it too much with car set up and ultimately just getting lost weekend in weekend out.”
Asked whether it was the car or his driving style that needed changing, Perez replied: “It’s been a big part of both, but basically the downturn was a bit on what we were doing with the set-up in a few weekends.”
With the 2023 F1 calendar comprising a record-equalling 22 rounds, the break prior to the triple-header in the Americas provided a rare chance to sit down with the engineers.
The extensive time spent at Red Bull’s Milton-Keynes factory appeared to have helped Perez, who qualified fourth in Mexico City and was pipped to the podium in Brazil before returning to the rostrum in Las Vegas.
“I needed the time,” the 33-year-old admitted. “You know, it’s very busy. We are very busy with all the commitments we have in racing, you know, with the simulator and so on.
“But I felt at that time that I needed, we were just getting lost weekend in, weekend out. So it was just important to step back and really look in detail.
“And I think since then, our season has transformed completely.
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