Sergio Perez is confident that Red Bull Racing have the platform they need to do well in the 2022 Formula 1 season.
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Red Bull Racing driver Sergio Perez is happy with the way the new RBR-18 performed during Formula 1‘s pre-season testing at Barcelona.
However, the veteran driver is also aware of the challenges at hand with the new cars; as things stand, he is only focused on a step-by-step progression until the new season gets underway.
“Yes, I think we got a good baseline,” said Perez at the end of the day.
“I definitely think we have a good potential. It’s obviously very early days. I really hope that we are able to make a good step come Bahrain, and yes, just keep progressing from all the information that we gathered from here.”
That’s all folks ? Day 3 completed with 133 laps ? @SChecoPerez with a fastest time of 1:19.556 and @Max33Verstappen with 1:19.756 ? #F1Testing pic.twitter.com/AITlmmzNCv
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) February 25, 2022
Red Bull Racing won their first world driver’s championship in 8 years at the end of 2021 thanks to Max Verstappen. However, they missed out on the constructor’s championship by a whisker.
The team will hope to bring home the team championship this year too. Perez is confident the team can do that, but again stressed on taking things slowly.
“I think it’s a progression throughout the year; it’s important just to keep making steps, keep making progress, and keep learning from my driving, the way I’m adapting the car and the team – what’s the best way to maximise it?” he replied.
“Because, I think it’s going to be quite a different challenge from qualifying to race day. You have seen these cars [porpoising] so I think it’s going to be a challenge to maximise the whole weekend.”
Verstappen, on the other hand, sounded more confident in the car. But the young Dutchman was a little concerned at the number of red flags through the day.
“I really enjoy driving the car,” said Verstappen. “It has a nice stable balance and I think they look cool as well, so that’s always nice to jump into.
“Of course, quite a few red flags so… we could not complete our whole programme, but everything was working well, the car felt good, [and I] just continued from what I did on Day 1. I think [that was] the most important objective here for us,” he added.
Also read: Max Verstappen says Michael Masi was ‘thrown under the bus’ by FIA
All 10 F1 teams are now done with the first round of pre-season testing at Barcelona. The teams will now head to Sakhir, Bahrain for the official pre-season testing from March 10-12.
After that, the season gets underway from March 18 onwards with the Bahrain GP.
