Sergio ‘Czech’ Pérez is facing the opportunity of a lifetime. Act, team and maturity and talent. There is much talk that he can be a good coequiero of Max Verstappen in Red Bull, but the Mexican is clear, if the act is why his goal is to win the championship, not finish in the top three in the final standings of Formula 1.
interviewed via Zoom from his hotel in Bahrain, where the 2021 F1 season will start on March 28, Checo Pérez was first not encouraged to give an accurate forecast of his performance, because, of course, the real potential of the F1 is still uncertain. ‘RB16B, your team’s car compared to other teams.
The 31-year-old Tapatio driver will begin his eleventh campaign at the Grand Circus, but for the first time is in a real position to be considered a contender for the title, which he accepts.
But it also has as intermediate goals to do what it has done for many years: to get more points in action than what marks its real potential.
“I don’t have a goal of wins or points, etc. It’s hard to put a number because we don’t know how competitive the event is. But my goal is to get the most out of the car I have. If I have a car to winning the championship, winning it, if I have a car to be third, to be second. Always going one step ahead of the car is my goal, “he said.
– Your 2020 season was the best of a Mexican in history, How do you feel about the opportunity to make more history than maybe improve that and be in the top three?
“It’s a great opportunity. My goal is to win the championship, not be in the top three, that’s my biggest dream and my biggest goal in my career.” I will fight with everything, it seems I have an act to do it, so hopefully I can fulfill them. “
The most important variant is always the event, but he is sure it will be Saturday, when you can see how close Red Bull and the rest are, in terms of the dominant Mercedes that has won the constructors’ championship seven years to the thread.
– Did Red Bull present the best preseason event?
“It’s hard to know right now, but I think we’ll definitely be close to Mercedes. It’s the goal at the very least, we’ll see it on Sunday and especially Saturday during qualifying.”
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Red Bull driver Sergio ‘Czech’ Perez sees in the tires the biggest difference this year with previous seasons.
TIRES ARE THE KEY
When asked about the changes in the regulations and the actions in 2021 with respect, he was emphatic in that the wheels are the real end point that will define the season.
“I think that some teams have affected us more than others (changes in the aerodynamics of the performances on the floor, height of the rear and cooling system), I think the important factor and that little is said are the tires of this year, here comes the problem of grip compared to last year not so much in the aerodynamic loads, which have taken you out of the equipment.I think it is more this year’s tires that are quite difficult in relation to the previous “, pointed out Sergio Pérez.
With all this in mind, as Czech is perhaps the driver who best manages the tires in current Formula 1, Pérez believes he will be able to be a contender for the title.
“Sooner or later we will have to see it, we will have to see how competitive the event is, but if the event is as competitive as we think, without a doubt (I will be a contender). I think I have the event and now it is in me maximize “.