Perez started his second season with Red Bull well in 2022, taking pole in Saudi Arabia and victory in Monaco to leave him 15 points clear of Verstappen after the opening seven races.
But the Mexican’s form dipped ahead of the summer break as he admitted the development of the RB18 car had made him less comfortable with the car.
Perez rallied with his second win of the year in Singapore and further podium finishes in Japan, Mexico and Abu Dhabi to close out the season, although that wasn’t enough to beat Charles Leclerc in the fight for third place in the standings.
Reflecting on his season at Friday’s FIA Champions press conference during the year-end awards ceremony, Perez explained how he recovered from early reliability issues and poor running in mid-year.
“It started off very difficult with the reliability we had at the start of the season,” Perez said, referring to fuel pump issues that plagued him and Verstappen in Bahrain and Australia.
“But I think later on we were quite competitive, we were very consistent. Then we had some bad races that put us a bit behind Max, but we still managed to get good points, good podiums , some victories.
“I think we got our season back on track for the last eight races or so. It was an intense battle towards the end with Charles and Ferrari.
Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB18
Photo by: Michael Potts / Motorsport Images
Perez finished the year three points behind Leclerc in the Championship, but it nonetheless marked his most successful season to date with his best finishing position, most wins and most points in a single campaign.
Perez’s form was enough for Red Bull to hand him a new two-year contract shortly before his Monaco victory, keeping him with the team until the end of the 2024 season.
Perez admitted he felt “much better” with Red Bull in his second year as he continued to adapt to the team, saying joining the team when Covid-19 restrictions were still largely in place in 2021 had made things more delicate.
“Coming into a new team is pretty intense, especially joining the team in times of Covid made it a bit harder to get to know everyone around me,” Perez explained.
“It was tricky, but I think it was definitely a huge difference. I can just feel things are improving.
“This morning I had a nice breakfast with all my engineers, and we could already feel that we are so much better prepared with each year we spend together.
“Certainly things are going in the right direction.”
