“I feel more comfortable with the car": Sergio Perez wants to ‘show’ he can fight for the championship this season

Sergio Perez recently spoke about how he feels about the new Red Bull RB19, his expectations, and his personal ambitions ahead of the 2023 F1 season. Checo, of course, was mostly considered a team player when it came to helping Red Bull and Max Verstappen win both the constructors' and drivers' titles. However, we might see a different Perez in 2023.

Speaking in the media before the Bahrain GP, Sergio Perez surprisingly denied that Red Bull are miles ahead of every team. Instead, he explained how the competition can be quite close since most teams usually hide their true pace in pre-season testing. He said:

"No, it's not like that. We think the competition is really close. It was really hard to draw any conclusions after the test, the more you try to look for people, the more you get confused. I think we got to wait and see. I think Saturday; Friday already, tomorrow, we will have a good idea, but Saturday and Sunday, when everyone will show their pace, are when we will really going to see how good or how bad we are."

Sergio Perez further explained how the RB19 felt much more stable and comfortable; however, the upgrades coming for the car might be limited due to less wind tunnel test time that was given to Red Bull. He said:

"We definitely improved the stability, I think that has been a positive, where I feel more comfortable with the car. And then it's only Bahrain, it's a very unique track, the tarmac here, [etc], but we got a good base. We are very limited, with our time on the wind tunnel, so we must make sure as a team that whatever we bring, whatever direction we push the development, that is the right one."

Lastly, when asked about whether he will remain a team player and help Verstappen win his third world championship or try to win it for himself, Sergio Perez stated that he would want to win it for himself as it is a new season and every driver will start from zero points. He said:

"I definitely want to go for the win, we are all starting from zero, we all have the same chances now, so I wanna be competitive and obviously, be able to show it on track."

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Sergio Perez will not help Max Verstappen if the support is not reciprocated

When Sergio Perez wanted help from Max Verstappen in the 2022 F1 Brazilian GP to score more points and extend his lead for second place in the driver's championship, the Dutchman refused to lend a hand. Hence, Perez is quite clear that he will not give any support to his teammate until and unless it is reciprocated. He said (via PlanetF1):

“It’s always important to work as a team and obviously if I see that I don’t receive support when I need it, I won’t give it either.”

On several occasions, we have seen Checo help Verstappen gain different kinds of advantages in the race. Hence, the incident in Brazil will continue to pinch the Mexican.