Perez engineer explains how duo overcome F1 failures

Sergio Perez's Race Engineer Hugh Bird has explained how the duo work collectively to overcome difficult spells in F1.

The Mexican got off to a flying start to the campaign by winning two of the opening four races as he attempted to take the championship challenge to teammate Max Verstappen.

But a crash in qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix triggered a miserable run of five races without a Q3 appearance and with his results ultimately affected by his lowly starting positions, his title tilt faded as Verstappen stretched his advantage with a record run of consecutive race victories.

Mistakes have continued throughout the season for Perez and he now faces a battle to hold onto second position in the Drivers' standings as Lewis Hamilton closes in for Mercedes.

Speaking to the Talking Bull podcast and explaining how the pair overcome adversity, Bird said: "We analyse it afterwards, we discuss extensively what caused those challenging times and whether there are things we can refine within the car.

"Whenever there has been something that hasn't gone our way, we try to make sure we learn from it and limit the risk of that affecting us in the future."

Partnership formed

Perez and Bird have been in partnership since the former Sauber, McLaren and Force India-Racing Point driver joined the Milton Keynes-based outfit for the 2021 season.

"We have a very similar way of life - we are a similar age and a similar style of life," explained Perez.

"We are both family men so we go through the same issues and same enjoyments and so on."

On how the duo formed its relationship, Bird added: "The team made the decision.

"I was working on Max's car at the time and the opportunity arose, I got promoted into this role coincidentally at the same time as Checo was joining, so we were both... Checo arriving at the team and myself arriving in the role at the same time and growing into it from there."