Why pragmatic Perez isn't fazed by no-nonsense Red Bull F1 culture

There must be something about the way Max Verstappen drives Red Bull’s recent Formula 1 cars that perturbs whoever happens to occupy the other cockpit. Four different sidekicks in as many seasons amounts to a level of instability rarely seen in Milton Keynes since Dietrich Mateschitz first entered the fray in 2005.

Daniel Ricciardo, once the favoured son, saw which way the wind was blowing and chose to ‘leave home’ for a fresh start – or “running from a fight”, as Christian Horner saw it. Pierre Gasly lasted just 12 races before Red Bull sent him back where he came, and now he is reborn. No such luck for Alex Albon, who toils in the DTM because there’s no room left at the inn.

Now Sergio Perez is the man tasked with changing the record, trying to discover how to get Red Bull’s car to dance to a tune other than Verstappen’s. And this is very much the Dutchman's house now, ever since Ricciardo made that shock decision in the summer of 2018.

Verstappen was already establishing himself as Red Bull’s new main man by being consistently quicker through the first half of that season. After Ricciardo departed for Renault, Verstappen naturally became Red Bull’s senior partner and thus assumed greater responsibility – and with it, greater power to bend ears inside the team’s engineering departments. Ricciardo was never going to play second fiddle, but the drivers who followed him have struggled even to do that.

Gasly’s mistake, if he made one, was trying too hard to force his own driving style on the car and then travelling down too many set-up blind alleys when it wouldn’t produce the entry to mid-corner stability he craved. He wanted to adapt the car to suit him; Red Bull wanted its new driver to adapt to the car; they both failed to find a suitable compromise.

Albon’s stint began well but subsequently ran aground. The RB16 of 2020 was notoriously skittish, something Verstappen’s outstanding natural car control could handle but which the much less experienced Albon couldn’t easily live with. 
He also lost a few big results to collisions with Lewis Hamilton, which might otherwise have alleviated pressure.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing and Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing in Parc Ferme

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Albon would probably be faring rather better in RB16B, which seems inherently more stable, but Red Bull already decided it needed more experience – a steadier hand to bag better results with more consistency and help carry the fight to Mercedes.

Which brings us to Perez, a 31-year-old race winner with 10 seasons in F1 already behind him. Perez has been one of F1’s most consistently outstanding midfield performers through the hybrid era, the entirety of which (until now of course) he spent with Racing Point (nee Force India), culminating in that maiden grand prix victory under fortuitous circumstances at last year’s Sakhir Grand Prix. In other words, seemingly just the man to provide the nous 
Red Bull needed in its second car – someone who’s been in F1 even longer than Ricciardo…

So many midfield drivers long for a shot in one of F1’s coveted top seats; the chance to show what they can really do in a car capable of running at the front rather than fighting for lower points paying positions or occasional podiums. All believe they are able to be world champion in the right machinery.

It’s why Lando Norris uttered his (since retracted) refrain about Hamilton having it easy at Mercedes, and Carlos Sainz Jr counterargued very few drivers could be as consistently excellent as Lewis, but nevertheless could win races in the same car.

"I'm finding myself that I’m having to think a lot about what I do in the car, the way I am driving. I’m changing my driving style a lot during the weekend, to adapt to the car" Sergio Perez

The travails of Valtteri Bottas over the past four seasons suggest this is certainly possible, but still very difficult to do with any regularity. And the journey so far for today’s interviewee – 
a grand prix winner at the penultimate round of 2020 who is in the form of his life – shows how challenging it can be to thrive at the pinnacle. While Verstappen is taking the fight to Hamilton and Mercedes at every race, at the time GP Racing went to press - before his breakthrough Baku victory - Perez had yet to finish on the podium. Adapting to a new environment when you’ve spent so long somewhere else is not the work of a moment.

PLUS: Why Bottas feels the time has come to be “more selfish”

“It’s a big challenge, you know, especially when you spend such a long time in one team – you realise why consistency is very good,” Perez tells GP Racing. “When I come here, I see how Max is with the car, with the team, how adapted he is, how he is delivering 100% from FP1 until the final lap of the race.

“And that’s something that I used to do at Racing Point, because I had experience there. But changing that environment, it’s just different, you know, it’s not natural yet. I’m finding myself that I’m having to think a lot about what I do in the car, the way I am driving. I’m changing my driving style a lot during the weekend, to adapt to the car.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B, Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB16B

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

“When you have the experience with it, you know you’re gonna be taking 100% out of the car, 99% of all the time you are there. If the wind changes, you know what you have to do and how the car feels. And when you jump into a new car, it’s all different. I mean, you’ve seen it with all the other drivers [who’ve switched teams for 2021]. I think we are all in the same boat. From my side, I know I will get there. But it’s important to get there soon because obviously the season runs out at a point.”

Sainz at Ferrari bucks the trend, having scored Ferrari's only podium thus far at Monaco, but otherwise the point rings true. The pandemic has hindered Perez further, preventing integration in the usual fashion – to the point where mandatory protocols and restrictions mean he can’t even take coffee with his mechanics.

Coronavirus makes face-to-face communication more difficult, and also makes it much harder to build those key relationships that are fundamental to the team play that underpins a competition like F1. With severely limited pre-season testing thrown in, plus significant changes to 
the aerodynamic regulations and tyres to deal with, on top of the usual assimilation process, 
it wouldn’t be an easy ride for anyone.

“At the moment I’m just trying to get on top of the car,” says Perez. “Because basically all what 
I did at Racing Point doesn’t work here. It still is a Formula 1 [car], but it’s just different – the way I have to drive in the race, the way I have to drive in qualifying, the way I look after tyres, all of that is very different. Power unit as well.

“To be honest, to be where I am with how I feel in the car, I’m surprised, you know. I feel that I should be very far away. We’re talking about very small margins. But if I’m able to find a few tenths, all of a sudden then I’m in a fight to win the race. I’m extremely motivated with that. The race performance in Portimao was a big thing for me, because that really made me understand how to how to drive the Red Bull in the race. 
And that definitely has been a turning point.”

Perez is referring to a seemingly unremarkable outing, in which he started poorly from fourth on the grid and spent the first 15 laps clearing slower cars. His strategy was offset to the leaders, but Perez’s pace once in clean air through the rest of a long first stint compared favourably with Verstappen and Bottas. This, coupled with beating Verstappen to the front row at Imola, or sometimes being fastest of all like-for-like at certain points in free practice (Monaco FP1) or qualifying (Imola Q2), suggests Perez can get the car to do the right things, just not yet always exactly when he demands it.

So far, he’s either compromised his races by qualifying too far back or starting too slowly, or – as was the case at Imola – making crucial errors in the race when Mercedes was there for the taking. It’s still early days of course but, from Verstappen’s point of view, the picture looks remarkably similar to before: “In the end I am always alone in the fight”.

Sparks fly as Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB16B, battles with Lando Norris, McLaren MCL35M

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

“To me, the most difficult thing I find to adjust is the way I have to drive, you know, because there’s a [particular] way that you extract the maximum,” Perez says. “And obviously, what Max is doing suits the car really well. And that’s something very different to what I used to do. So, I think before getting loose or something, I’m just focusing on driving the car as it should [be driven]. Once I’m in that window, then I’m able to feel the car a bit more, and I think that’s key.”

Engineers at Force India used to talk up Perez’s ability on so-called ‘front-limited circuits’ – where outside front tyre grip is the limiting factor – and his remarkable sensitivity to the slip-angle of the rear tyres on corner exit, expertly modulating throttle to preserve tyre life. Aston Martin technical director Andrew Green recently described this style as “extreme”.

It would seem, based on what Perez is saying about everything he did previously no longer working, and the fact Verstappen is struggling to stay in the fight with Mercedes over race distances because of weak rear tyre life, that Red Bull’s RB16B is very much a rear-limited car – and thus not naturally suited to Perez’s skillset.

Refreshingly, Perez makes no excuses – for himself or the previous incumbents of his seat, whom he describes as “huge talents”. He simply recognises the incredible ability Verstappen has, and the need to do better himself.

"It makes no sense if you are off the pace with the car to be chasing, or to make the team chase a different [set-up] direction that simply isn’t going to work. First get on the pace, and then you talk" Sergio Perez

“Max obviously is a very talented driver – 
very, very complete,” Perez adds. “And within the team, you can see he’s been with the team for a few years already and he knows exactly what he needs out of the car every time. If there is a change of conditions, or if there is something happening, he just adapts very quickly. He is operating at a very high level, within the team in this car. He’s certainly at his peak with the team. That’s obviously a great reference to have.”

It’s also worth considering just how exceptional a level Verstappen has reached within F1: well over 100 races started, a victory tally already into double digits (and more than James Hunt, Ronnie Peterson and Jody Scheckter all managed), almost a half-century of podiums, and still only 23 years of age…

“Look at his team-mates,” Verstappen’s father Jos tells Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. “Gasly, Albon and now Perez, they are no pancakes. But somehow Max is doing something exceptional. At Red Bull they also see how good he is. Maybe I shouldn’t say it, but Max makes that car look better than it really is. If you put Max and Lewis in the same car, there is no doubt in my mind who is better. But we hope that Red Bull will give him the material to really show it.”

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

You might expect the boy’s father to say such effusive things about his own son, but the serious point is that whoever sits alongside Verstappen has their work cut out for them.

“I’m not saying the previous [Red Bull drivers] aren’t extremely talented – you’ve seen with Pierre, and with Alex, they’re huge talents,” Perez adds. “And they’re very, very young still. So, there are reasons [they struggled], and the team understands it more, but from my side, I don’t focus on that – I’m just thinking that I will make it work, focus on myself.

“That’s the best approach I can have. It makes no sense if you are off the pace with the car to be chasing, or to make the team chase a different [set-up] direction that simply isn’t going to work. First get on the pace, and then you talk…”

The greater maturity of Perez now, compared to the jilted kid turfed out by McLaren after just one season, is clear. He’s happy to be reunited with Christian Horner, who knows Perez from his time driving for Arden’s GP2 team (co-founded by Horner and his father Garry). Perez is fascinated by talks with Adrian Newey – “every time you spend five minutes in conversation you learn something about the car”. Perez even claims to enjoy the no-nonsense motivational stylings of Helmut Marko…

“I love that part of Red Bull – it’s full of racers, and it’s all driven by results,” Perez insists. “And if you deliver, it’s great, and if not, you know, you’re not good enough. I like that – to have that straightforward relationship with basically the whole team, and that really transfers not from the big persons in team. It’s the way the whole team operates at all levels. And that’s something that I really enjoy about Red Bull culture.”

The start Perez has made to life at Red Bull has been anything but smooth, yet he appears extremely relaxed for someone dealing with that and the pressure that comes with an unexpected, short-term (one-year contract) opportunity to make his own dreams come true by finally having a championship contending car to play with.

“It’s been a bit of a roller coaster in my career, you know,” Perez says. “I mean, I ended up in positions that I didn’t thought I was going to – I thought F1 was all about driving as fast as possible! And that wasn’t the case in a couple of my years. A lot of things were happening out of the track that were very stressful years. But also, years that teach me a lot – not just as a driver, as a person. They made me grow a lot in many different areas. I think that has really made me stronger.

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB16B

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

“I had a contract for three years [with Racing Point/Aston Martin] and I was very happy to be part of the project, the reveal of the team. But I think all of a sudden, the driver market changed a lot. And obviously Seb [Vettel] became available. I think he’s a massive name for a brand like Aston. So, they just brought him in. And I found myself without a place in Formula 1.

"A lot of things were happening out of the track that were very stressful years. But also, years that teach me a lot – not just as a driver, as a person" Sergio Perez

“But after so many years in the sport I was very clear in my mind what I wanted to do. 
I could just jump and do a deal with another team, but it was all about having that opportunity to win. I wouldn’t like to give the team names. I had options there. And I could [just] jump into it [a lesser team]. But it was not about that. It was about getting the opportunity for my career to win.

“It got to a point where it was basically Red Bull or nothing. And then later in the year, things changed quickly. After I won [in Sakhir], I already had a good option for 2022 which I thought ‘well, if I don’t get the drive then I’m definitely coming back’. And all of a sudden that changed completely.

“In the end, I got the drive I wanted, and I’m very happy to be to be here, and very motivated – more than ever. I think I’m still very young. I’ve got the best years ahead of me.”

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing, 1st position, celebrates on arrival in Parc Ferme

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images