Sergio Perez says the reduced track time in 2021 is accentuating his plight as he continues to try and get up to speed with Red Bull.
Perez joined Red Bull for 2021 but has lagged behind team-mate Max Verstappen for much of the season and is yet to score a podium finish.
It is a situation that has been replicated elsewhere at teams that have tweaked their driver line-ups for 2021, with Carlos Sainz, Daniel Ricciardo, Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel all behind their respective team-mates in the standings.
Formula 1 has previously had four hours of practice running but for 2021 revised its schedule to instead feature three one-hour sessions.
“I’m getting more confident with the car obviously,” said Perez after finishing the Spanish Grand Prix in fifth position.
“Every time I get to the end of the weekend I’m like ‘I wish the weekend just starts now’, but given how limited track time is these days it is hard to get up to speed.
“I think it’s important to keep making those steps and put the whole weekend together.
“It just takes me a bit too long to get up to speed when we go to a new circuit, the full Friday I’m adapting my style and not there with the car yet.
“You see things are coming, but not together, but I think once we put them together definitely we have the pace to be able to go pretty quick.”
On what he can learn from Verstappen, when looking at the data, Perez said: “How to drive the car really, how to get the maximum out of it, and how to adapt myself in the driving style, that’s the thing I’m working [on] the most.
“Every circuit is different. It’s not like you learn something here [in Spain] and it works in Monaco, that’s the main thing that I’m still adapting with my style, and hopefully soon we can be able to be 100 per cent.”
