Despite finishing the Bahrain Grand Prix 22.4 seconds behind Verstappen, Perez’s race was marred by an unfavorable starting grid position that saw him stuck behind George Russell and the Ferraris driven by Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz from the beginning of the race.
Once he got going, though, Perez showed signs of being more superior to this year’s RB20 than he occasionally was to the team’s 2023 rival in the previous season.
The fact that Verstappen did not “destroy” his driver gives Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko hope as the Mexican tries to win over his superiors and secure a race contract for the 2025 season.
When asked if the team was happy with Perez’s pace, Marko responded, “Yes, it was a very nice race for him,” to a question from Motorsport.com. Remember that he demonstrated competitive lap times once he gained freedom from the Mercedes and Ferrari vehicles after being stranded behind them for a while.
Indeed, Max is a teammate of his. Thus, avoiding Max’s destruction is already a significant accomplishment.
Christian Horner, the team principal for Red Bull, also felt that Perez’s performance in Bahrain was exactly what the team was hoping for from the Mexican.
“There is no fixed criteria,” Horner responded when asked following the race whether Perez had been assigned a minimum aim to have a chance of having his contract extended. He needs to prove himself worthy of that seat, and he needs to perform on days like today.
Perez thinks he can see the progress made in the cockpit and believes that Red Bull’s concept adjustment for this season is working for him.
He remarked, “I think changing the concept was clearly a risk, but everything has been working.” “The car is superior in every way, even if its balance is rather identical to that of the one we had last year.
But like everyone else, we are still getting used to our new vehicle. Consequently, I believe we will learn a great deal when we apply it to many varied circuits. Hopefully, we can continue this development and eventually make the car more powerful than our competitors.
