Perez: 'If I do that, I'll be fighting for the title'

Sergio Perez has said it many times during the 2022 F1 season and said it again recently; he has what it takes to become world champion. Speaking to Speedcafe.com the Mexican says what he needs to do better next year to achieve that goal.

Perez fights for title 'with more consistency'

2022 was a season that started very well for the Red Bull Racing driver. Ferrari seemed even stronger at the time, but Perez was reasonably confident for the first few races that he could compete for the title. It ended up being a very rocky season for the Mexican, in which he was no less than 150 points behind his teammate Max Verstappen at the end.

Perez: "The season started very well. There were some reliability problems at the beginning, but on the track it looked good. We were in the fight for the title early on. I had a couple of bad races that really put me off contention for the championship, so there is some work to do in that regard together with the team to make sure that we can keep that consistency throughout and that we can come back next year and fight for the title if we were to have a similar level car for next year."

Perez's role at Red Bull Racing

So for Perez, the motto for 2023 is to stay focused. The Mexican eventually finished just behind Charles Leclerc in the championship. The Monegasque won one more race than Perez. Checo's first win in Monaco kept him in touch with the battle between Verstappen and Leclerc for the title, but a DNF in Canada put him further behind.

In Austria, the Mexican also failed to finish, and around the summer break Perez had a nasty run of five races with only one podium finish. In Singapore, the Red Bull driver recovered and took his second win of the season. His 305 championship points contributed heavily to the team's overwhelming victory in the constructors' standings, but Ferrari soon proved not to be a real challenger for the title this year anyway. Perez is in a difficult situation because as long as he cannot beat Verstappen, he will remain second fiddle. Team advisor Dr Helmut Marko gives him little chance.