Sergio Perez admits he was “driving without confidence” at one point while trying to fight Max Verstappen for the title

Sergio Perez has opened up on the difficulties that he has faced in 2023 whilst having Max Verstappen as a teammate.

Sergio Perez admits he was “driving without confidence” at one point while trying to fight Max Verstappen for the title

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez (Via Imago)

Sergio Perez had come into the 2023 F1 season looking to fight teammate Max Verstappen for the championship. After their utter dominance in 2022, it seemed like business would be the same in the following year. In the first four races that took place, Verstappen won two, as did Checo. This gave the fans a glimmer of hope, as a title fight looked very likely. 

However, Max Verstappen went on to squash everybody’s dream and went on a race-winning streak that lasted for 10 Grand Prix. On the other hand, Sergio Perez had been very inconsistent with his performances at Red Bull. Failing to make Q3 multiple times and his incidents during the race were not at all feasible for the Mexican. This in turn threw him completely out of the title fight. 

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In an interview, Sergio Perez talks about the whole situation. “I was driving without confidence. At one point, I just wasn’t there… and that was very hard. Being with a top-notch team, the pressure to perform increases rapidly,” he said. “My confidence in myself came back when I realized that I had won races on my own at the beginning of this year. I dare say that now I’m back at 100%. And I also have the conviction again that I can have a chance to fight for the title next year,” he added.

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Related: Helmut Marko asks Sergio Perez to ‘forget the World Championship dream’ amidst uncertainty over the Mexican’s Red Bull future

Sergio Perez retired twice from the Japanese GP to avoid future penalties 

Sergio Perez was not having it at all at the Japanese GP, as nothing seemed to be going as planned for the Mexican. After colliding with Kevin Magnussen, the Mexican was under more duress. At one point, he was asked to retire the car, wherein he came into the pits but didn’t get out of it. Red Bull was up to something. After getting approval from the FIA, Red Bull did something that seemed impossible.

Sergio Perez (Via Imago)
Sergio Perez (Via Imago)

After waiting out for 43 minutes, Red Bull sent Sergio Perez back into the race to serve his remaining time penalties. After the penalties were served, the No.11 car was retired yet again. This maneuver was done in order to make sure that Perez wouldn’t get any grid penalties for Qatar for not serving his previous penalties. With his contract there till the end of 2024, it will be interesting to see what the Mexican can do. 

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