Sergio Perez has been warned by his ex-manager Adrian Fernandez that he must step up a gear at Red Bull to meet the team’s expectations.
2023 will mark Perez’s third F1 season with the Milton Keynes-based squad – however throughout his stint so far, he has been consistently out-paced by team-mate Max Verstappen.
Perez won two races last year to Verstappen’s 15, with the latter taking his second consecutive F1 title.
Perez’s late-season quest to finish second in the 2022 Drivers’ Championship failed, with the position going to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Fernandez acknowledged that Perez is performing well but has pushed the 32-year-old to take another step forward.
“Checo is performing well,” he told the Dutch edition of Motorsport.com. “The problem is that Verstappen is driving next to him.
“Checo is an excellent driver and now very experienced. But now he has to find out what Max does differently from him.
“Max has of course been driving for Red Bull for some time and the team is built around him. Considering that, Checo is certainly not doing wrong and is probably doing exactly what the team wants him to do.
“But he will soon have to step up a gear. And I think he knows that too. Red Bull was very strong last year, but if the competition is closer next season, it will be even more important for the team to have two drivers at the front.”
Perez has already set his sights on improving his form and making a bid for the title next year.
In order for him to do that, Fernandez says that Perez must become more consistent with his race-day performances.
“Max is just on a different level,” he said. “He is of the calibre of Senna, Schumacher and Hamilton.
“I believe in Checo’s ability, but to get to that level, he will have to take a big step.
“And I’m not so much talking about how he drives, but more about how he works with the engineers to get the car to his liking and his consistency throughout the season.
“Being fastest over a lap once, finishing a session on top or winning a race, it’s all well and good but if you’re going for the championship you’re going to have to be strong all season.
“Look at Valtteri Bottas. He spent years in the best car, but failed to become champion. The difference between him and Lewis? Consistency. That is what makes champions so special.”
