Sergio Perez is confident he’s “in a much better position” at Red Bull compared to 12 months ago to prevent the slump that characterised his Formula 1 season last term.
Perez has capitalised on Red Bull’s continued dominance to record consecutive second-place finishes behind team-mate Max Verstappen in the first two rounds of 2024.
However, the Mexican recorded similar results last season before his title aspirations took a dent in Australia when he failed to post a time in qualifying and started last.
But Perez is feeling optimistic that he has a stronger platform to build from this time around regarding his preparation and understanding across the course of weekends.
“I think we are heading in the right direction,” Perez said. “I’m really pleased with the first two races, especially with the progress we made after the first one.
“I feel like as a team we are in a really good momentum. We are understanding a lot of what’s going on the weekends, the way we review the weekends, how we prepare them.
“I’m pretty happy with how the season has started and I think there is a lot more to come from our side.”
That Q1 exit in Melbourne on F1’s previous visit would be the first of nine occasions Perez failed to start inside the top 10 as he endured a tumultuous mid-season plight.
Perez attributed his troubles to the RB19 being developed away from his natural style, prompting an extensive evaluation to be held with his engineers in the latter months.
The six-time F1 race winner believes that such discussions have proven to be a vital turning point in relation to ensuring he avoids encountering similar struggles this year.
Asked to compare his feeling with the RB20 relative to its predecessor, Perez answered: “I think we are in a much better place in terms of understanding.
“I think when the weekend is not going your way, getting back and understanding what things work for us and what doesn’t, I think we are a lot better in that regard.
“We’ve been exploring a lot, especially towards the end of last year. We were exploring so much with the set-up of the car that we got to a point where I think right now we really know which directions, which set-ups work for us. And I think we are in a much better position.
“Also, we are starting the weekend a lot better. We’re making a lot more progress during the weekend.
“So I think overall, I feel a lot more together with the car, with team for the rest of the year compared to last year.”
