Sergio Perez reveals the turning point that ‘transformed’ his 2023 F1 season

Sergio Perez pointed out the race weekend that led to the transformation of his form in 2023.

Sergio Perez reveals the turning point that ‘transformed’ his 2023 F1 season

Sergio Perez and George Russell. (image via IMAGO)

Sergio Perez has struggled for the majority of the 2023 F1 season. The Mexican driver won two races in the first half of the season but fell in the pecking order mid-way through the year. However, the 33-year-old has bounced back with a couple of solid performances in the last few weeks. Now, Perez has revealed the reason for this turnaround.

Checo had a dismal weekend at the Qatar GP this year. The 33-year-old got penalized thrice and finished in P10. While Max Verstappen clinched his third consecutive title that weekend. Subsequently, the Mexican driver went back to Milton Keynes and delved into the details with his engineers.

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 in detail with all the engineers.
Sergio Perez said as reported by PlanetF1

Sergio Perez admitted that he and the team were taking the wrong approach with the car to balance out the weaknesses. This in turn forced the 33-year-old to rely heavily on the car set-up. Additionally, Perez mentioned that he needed to take a step back as his struggles continued.

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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 setup and ultimately, just getting lost weekend in and weekend out.

The Mexican driver pointed out that since the Qatar weekend, his performances have improved drastically. So much so, that the 33-year-old claimed it to be a complete transformation from the underwhelming streak of finishes mid-way through the year.

 felt at that time that I needed [it], 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.

Sergio Perez aims to challenge Max Verstappen in 2024

Perez seems to have regained confidence as he improved his results in the past few weeks. The Mexican driver’s Red Bull seat was rumored to be at risk before the 33-year-old put on some solid performances. Now, it appears that Sergio Perez is confident to even take the fight to his teammate for the world title.

Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen
Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen (image via IMAGO)

Checo has spent three seasons at Milton Keynes. During this period, the Mexican driver has played second fiddle to Verstappen as the Dutch driver clinched three championships in a row. Although, Sergio Perez was determined to win the world title in 2023, he could not keep up with the dominance of his world champion teammate.

However, Sergio Perez will be aiming to try and challenge for the 2024 world title. The Mexican driver might be finally ready to go head-to-head against his teammate. With Perez’s Red Bull contract running out at the end of 2024, it might be the only chance for the 33-year-old to try and fulfill his dream of becoming an F1 champion. Unless Checo can get a contract extension in the future.

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