Sergio Perez believes he can still challenge Max Verstappen on purpose built circuits, despite both his race wins in 2023 coming on street tracks. Verstappen has previously stated his circuit preference being purpose-built facilities ahead of the upcoming triple-header, which features a mix of Imola, Monaco and the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The Mexican's form on street circuits looked to continue in Miami before being caught by Verstappen, who took a crucial victory in the championship battle. Perez has identified why he is strong on street tracks, believing that this should also not hold him back from challenging Verstappen at purpose-built facilities in the future. "The reason I'm strong when at these circuits is because I'm able to play with the car much more than I'm used to. So I see no reason why we go to different circuit's [why] I'm not able to play with the car the same way as I've been doing," Perez told media, including RacingNews365.com . "Every weekend it's a new challenge, on paper, it's so hard to know if it suits you or not. So that's why it's important to be able to keep playing with the car and have a really good understanding of the car and I believe I can be strong."
Perez: Verstappen unreachable in Miami
Although Verstappen made a costly error in qualifying for the Miami GP which made him start outside of the top three, his pace during the race was good enough that it did not matter which strategy he ended up taking. Perez conceded after the race that Verstappen was 'unreachable' and that he will need to understand why that was the case for the upcoming races. "I think the performance he has shown was was unreachable for me, so I have to understand why," he told Sky Sports . "I think there was something tyre related as well. But overall, he was a strong driver today. I've been stronger in other places, but he was the strongest one. We just have to understand what went wrong for us."
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