Red Bull

Perez beginning to click at Red Bull despite Bahrain problems

Sam Hall Thursday 1 April 2021 09:34

Sergio Perez believes things are beginning to click in place at Red Bull despite the Mexican enjoying a far-from-perfect debut weekend in Bahrain.

After failing to qualify inside the top 10 while new team-mate Max Verstappen started from pole position, Perez then endured a frenetic build-up to the race on Sunday.

Following an initial change of the energy store and control electronics in the RB16B an hour before the race, the car then stopped on the formation lap.

The quick-thinking Mexican managed to salvage the situation, and despite a pit lane start, recovered to claim a satisfying fifth place.

“Considering how my race started I think we can be pleased," said Perez, who has joined Red Bull after seven years with Force India/Racing Point.

"The most important thing was that I was able to do the race. Missing out on Q3, I missed a lot of mileage. That wasn’t ideal.

"But on Sunday I did the race and I think I got a lot of understanding, a lot of data to go through with the engineers. There is a lot of work ahead of us but we can see that things are coming, clicking.

“Everything is clicking better, everything was feeling better in the race so I am pleased with that.

“There is a still lot of work ahead of us to be back in contention in the place where we want to be but the positive is the pace was good so we are getting there.”

Perez was praised for his presence of mind by Red Bull chief engineer Paul Monaghan after the car shut down, underlining his overall F1 experience.

Reflecting on what happened on the formation lap, Perez said; "I was in the middle of the corner and everything went off. I lost the engine, I lost ignition and I thought that was it. I was so close to jumping out.

"Then all of a sudden I started to hear [sporting director] Jonathan [Wheatley] on the radio and was like ‘What? This thing woke up?’

"Somehow the car got going again, which is a miracle really. That meant we had to start from the pit lane which wasn’t ideal but we managed to recover."