Perez encouraged by Red Bull feeling ‘more togetherness’

Sergio Perez says his Red Bull Formula 1 car is “more put together” after finishing a narrow second at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Perez was beaten by just 0.006 seconds in the second practice session on Friday by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who had also been on a roll in the morning.

The Mexican has come under fire this year because he has much more trouble with the balance of the Red Bull RB20 than his teammate Max Verstappen. On several circuits, the difference between the two teammates amounts to more than half a second per lap.

One symptom of his plight was that after the many training sessions on Friday, Perez was left scratching his head as to how he would get the car back on track overnight.

But in Azerbaijan, Perez immediately seemed much happier with his car balance. “It was definitely a good, solid day,” he said.

“I think there are some good fundamentals. We’ve made good progress from FP1 to FP2, so we just need to make sure we can move on from here and I think we can definitely be in the mix tomorrow.

When asked if he felt more confident about the RB20 after some of the changes made in recent weeks, he said: “Yeah, I think we’re going in the right direction. We’re seeing that we can put the car together a little bit better.

“I think there is still a long way to go. But what we have seen so far is promising.”

Verstappen, who set the fastest time in FP1 and finished sixth in FP2 with what appeared to be very conservative engine settings given his lower top speeds, was also much happier with the handling of his car than he had been in recent weeks.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

“I think overall it was a good day. We learned a lot. Now it’s just about cleaning up the things we tried to do,” the Dutchman added.

“But I think we’ve been more competitive so far this weekend, so that’s positive.

“There has been a lot of hard work going on in the background and it won’t stop.

“FP2 was a bit more difficult for me. So like I said, we just need to get the balance right a bit more, and then I’m confident we can be competitive.”

As the sun set over the Caspian Sea towards the end of FP2, Verstappen reported his visibility issues on Red Bull team radio.

The world champion explained the problem as follows: “I had two different sized visor stickers, and actually one was too small and one was too big, because the sun goes down. And then you also have the problem of glare between the buildings.

“And that’s something I really struggled with, with visibility, so there are still a few things I need to adjust.”