‘Not like I forgot to drive’ - Sergio Perez bites back at critics of recent F1 struggles

Sergio Perez has hit back at F1 critics who doubted him during his recent struggles, insisting “it’s not like I forgot how to drive”.

The Mexican, who is under pressure to retain his Red Bull seat, scored his best qualifying result since the Chinese Grand Prix in April by setting the third-fastest time in Saturday’s wet session at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Perez will start Sunday’s race from second on the grid at Spa-Francorchamps, with teammate Max Verstappen dropping down to 11th due to a penalty for exceeding his power unit allocation for the season.

When asked if his qualifying performance gave him satisfaction amid recent criticism he has faced, Perez replied: “From my point of view, it doesn’t change anything.

“I’ve always said it’s not where we are now, it’s how you ride the waves, and where we finish in Abu Dhabi. There are a lot of drivers that haven’t been able to maximise the performance.

“But obviously the scrutiny on my side has been quite a bit higher. It doesn’t change anything from my point of view, I think tomorrow is a new day, a new opportunity. It would have been the same if I was knocked out in Q2.

“Tomorrow is a new opportunity to do better, and it’s the way I see it. It’s tomorrow what really counts. If I don’t have a good race tomorrow, I will try to have a good one in Zandvoort. It’s how it is.

“”This is the sport, sometimes it goes your way, sometimes you have to fight and nothing goes in your direction. I think it’s just the nature of the sport.”

Asked if he feels that his confidence is returning, Perez replied: “More than confidence. It’s not like I forgot how to drive, from five or six races ago.

“It’s just you see it with a lot of drivers, sometimes you’re unable to maximise the full potential of your car, and for that reason, you end up lacking that confidence to extract the maximum out of the car you have.

“I think we’ve been taking good steps forward in the right direction since Hungary. I think Silverstone was already, I had a good Friday. I think the season, the car is going in the right direction for now, and hopefully tomorrow we are able to finish it off with a strong result, and still there is a long way to go in the season.

“Just head down, and I think like I’ve said before, the team and myself are focusing on what we’re going to do. At the end of the day, it's getting the most points we possibly can, and the rest, couldn’t care less to be honest.”

Perez stressed he was not satistfied with his car’s handling at the start of the weekend

“We tried a lot of things, we kept throwing things at it, and it’s never ideal when you don’t have progression. Once again today, we throw at it a lot of things,” he explained.

“We found a nicer window, a little bit similar in the direction of Hungary. But we were a lot happier with the car. So I think I mean, although it’s on the inter conditions, but the balance in the medium-high speed was feeling positive, in the right direction.

“So let’s see, let’s see tomorrow. I think tomorrow is going to be a very different day. Let’s see how much we’re able to improve.”