Sergio Perez says that the RB20’s characteristics did not suit his driving style. Perez explains that a lack of confidence meant that he made several mistakes across the season.
Perez: The RB20 was fast, but difficult to optimise
There has been plenty of discussion about Sergio Perez’s 2024 campaign over the last few months.
His 277 point deficit to teammate Max Verstappen is evidence enough of the struggles he’s experienced in 2024.
Both in qualifying and on race day, the 34-year-old’s pace has been severely lacking.
With McLaren and Ferrari taking considerable leaps in their development, Perez’s performance has costly Red Bull in the standings.
The Mexican driver is aware of this, explaining that certain factors have limited his output:
“It’s been a pretty tough year,” he told the media in Abu Dhabi.
“Normally when you have car, it is what it is – you have a bad car and try to maximise what you have.
“But here, the car was very fast. It was just super difficult to dial in. It was very easy with my driving style to make a lot of mistakes.
“It was very easy to make mistakes, and I ended up doing a lot.
“Just not being able to extract 100% has been the toughest part of my season.”
Red Bull expected to make a change
For a driver with such a respected career before joining Red Bull, the last two years have been immensely tough.
Although nobody expects Perez to outperform Max Verstappen, the gap between the Red Bull drivers is far too large.
Even putting aside Perez’s gap to his teammate, he currently sits 8th in the standings – last of the drivers in top four teams.
With the sharp end of the field becoming increasingly competitive, Red Bull need the strongest possible line-up.
Whilst Perez can be forgiven for not feeling at home in the RB20, his results are still difficult to justify.
As Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson wait in the wings, his days at Milton Keynes appear numbered.
The question is whether Red Bull – for the first time since 2018 – choose correctly and sign someone capable of reinforcing Verstappen.
