Sergio Perez is keen to get back to racing in 2022, with the Mexican hoping that the introduction of new technical regulations can allow everyone to "start from zero". The upcoming season will mark Perez's second year with Red Bull and he admits that the 2021 campaign was "intense", particularly given teammate Max Verstappen's challenge for the title. "It was an intense season," Perez said at the launch of the team's new car, the RB18. "Getting up to speed with a new team, especially the team that was fighting for the championship since race one [was intense], so [there was] really no time for any adaptation, it was straight into it. "It was really challenging, but very enjoyable. We gave it all until the very last lap of the season."
2022 offers opportunity to "start from zero"
Whilst Perez felt that there was little time to adapt in the 2021 pre-season, preparations for 2022 have been slightly different, with the changes to the technical regulations meaning that there is an element of uncertainty over the new cars. Perez believes that this offers a good opportunity, though. "[It] feels like we were in Abu Dhabi yesterday, but I'm so excited to start the new season," he explained. "We [are] already working a lot with the engineers, and we just cannot wait to be on track with these new cars. "We're starting from zero, all of us."
Hopes for "good racing" in new season
Perez is keen to see if the cars are able to race each other more closely, as has been the hope with the new regulations. "[I'm looking forward] to good racing," Perez added. "These new regulations are set to improve the racing, and I really hope that for us, as drivers, we are able to compete more during the race, to be able to follow each other a lot [more] closely. "And for the fans, [I hope] that we can give them great entertainment, great racing, and that would be really nice." The two-time race winner is expecting that there may still be a period of adjustment with the next generation of cars. "It takes a bit of a while until you're 100 per cent with it," Perez explained. "I think we have a massive change of regulations, with the tyres as well. They're going to be different. In the racing, apparently we're going to be able to follow [more] closely. "So there's a lot of things that we as a driver have to learn, [and] as a team, so [I'm] definitely very interested [to see what happens with] these new regulations."
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