Sergio Perez has admitted to feeling as though he's not hitting the ground running at each Grand Prix weekend, as the Mexican continues to learn how best to drive the Red Bull. Perez qualified a lowly eighth place on Saturday, having complained of muscle pain and dizziness in qualifying. His race was stronger, working his way up to fifth, but still a long way away from joining in the battle at the very front. The Mexican driver explained after the race that he wishes he could be as comfortable as he is at the end of a race weekend right from the very start of Friday track time. "I think it's important to keep making those steps and put the whole weekend together," Perez explained to media, including RacingNews365.com . "It just takes me too long to get up to speed. When we get to a new circuit on a Friday, I'm like adapting my style. So I'm still not there with the car yet. But you see that things are coming, but not together. But I think once we are able to put them together, definitely we have the pace to be able to go pretty quick." "I'm getting more confident with the car, obviously. I mean, every time I get to the end of the weekend, I'm like, 'Fuck, I wish that we can just start with now'. But given how limited track time is, it's very hard to get up to speed especially with not feeling 100% yesterday. "So yeah. Just forget this one and go back again in Monaco." Having been embroiled in a terrific battle with McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo for a big chunk of Sunday's race, Perez said that his eventual fifth place couldn't have been much more as he struggled to pass the Australian. "I think that was everything we could have done today," he said. "[It] took me a long time to get past Daniel. He was extremely quick on the main straight. And it's not an easy place to get past people." Eventually passing the McLaren with an audacious move around the outside of Turn 1, Perez said he had built up to it after staring at the back of Ricciardo for so long. "I knew that I had to do it", the Red Bull driver explained. "So somehow I was thinking pretty much for the whole race 'How am I going to make it'? But in the end, we managed to make it work."
Most read
