Perez Optimistic It's 'Just A Matter Of Time' Before He Can Show What He's Got

Saturday, 11 November 2023 at 17:00

Updated at Saturday, 11 November 2023 at 19:20

Red Bull Racing F1 driver Sergio Perez recently talked about his improvement as a driver and progress in the 2023 Championship.

It was not too long ago that Sergio Perez got into a bit of trouble in the Drivers' Championship when Lewis Hamilton closed the gap to him to 20 points after the 2023 Mexico City Grand Prix.

However, the Red Bull driver extended the gap to the seven-time World Champion to 32 points. This more comfortable margin allows breathing room for Perez to better focus on his performances in the remaining two races of the season.

The Mexican driver says he had the pace to extend the gap in the Championship for quite a few weekends but could not show it for a couple of reasons. He told the media after the 2023 Sao Paulo Grand Prix:

“"The pace has been there for the last few weekends, but for some reason or another, we haven't been able to put it all together."”

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Both Christian Horner and Helmut Marko expressed satisfaction with the improvements that Perez made over the last couple of races. Perez says it was "just a matter of time."

“"I think it is just a matter of time before it will come, [Brazil] was a good weekend for the championship, because we are getting closer to second spot."”

The last race weekend that showed Perez's lack of pace was in Qatar. The Mexican driver collected only one point throughout the whole sprint weekend. However, now he feels refreshed and can't wait for the race in Vegas.

“"So now let's look forward to Vegas, and it is just a matter of time before we are able to show what we have got. After Qatar, when I went back to the team, we understood a lot of things that we were doing wrong."”

After the Qatar, Perez finished P5 and P4 in the sprint and race in the United States. He had to retire from the Mexico City Grand Prix, but he thinks he had a great pace.

“"Since then, Austin was a compromised weekend, but even Mexico was quite good, I mean, I went off, but I was very close to the lead, so we are really making progress."”

The next chance for Sergio Perez to show his progress will be next weekend during the highly anticipated Las Vegas Grand Prix and later in the final race of the season - the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.