Perez focused on the big picture with "fantastic" Red Bull

Sergio Perez has refused to get carried away by the strong pace shown by Red Bull in pre-season testing saying it matters only where the team ranks after the Abu Dhabi season finale in December.

Perez joined Red Bull in the winter to become Max Verstappen's fourth team-mate in as many years after ending a seven-year stint with Racing Point - now Aston Martin.

Both Perez and Verstappen showed pace across the three days of testing with both drivers topping their respective sessions on the final day.

Despite this turn of speed, Perez refused to get caught up in the moment and focussed instead on the broader picture of the season as a whole.

“I am pretty excited that we have got a good car underneath us," Perez said. "The team is doing a fantastic job and as I have always said, it doesn’t matter where we start in Bahrain, it is where we finish in Abu Dhabi.

“So let’s go ahead step by step and it should be a good season for us.”

This year, pre-season testing was dramatically reduced from six days to just three, meaning Perez was afforded just one-and-a-half days to get to grips with his new machinery.

He added: "I think it is the shortest pre-season ever in my career. It was a very limited amount of running in testing.

“We are improving every time we are in the car. We seem to be getting more comfortable.

"We were able to get through different set-up items and I think now we just have to look forward to the race weekend because conditions are going to be very different."

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