Sergio Pérez started the 2022 Formula 1 season very well, with five podium finishes in the first five races, including a win at the Monaco Grand Prix.
However, the Mexican driver appears to have lost that competitiveness at the wheel of the RB18 since the Canadian Grand Prix, where he finished a second behind team-mate Max Verstappen on Friday before suffering a wet crash in qualifying and to leave on Sunday due to a failure of reliability in the gearbox.
Last weekend, at Silverstone, Pérez finished six tenths behind Verstappen in the second practice session and four tenths in FP3, which were the only moments of the weekend with a dry track before the race. On Sunday, “Checo” recovered from an incident that left him last after damaging his front wing and managed to finish second, while the Dutch driver could only finish seventh due to a problem with his car.
In reference to a question about whether since Montreal the Austrian team had changed something in the car to focus more on the front of the RB18 , a feature that suits Verstappen ‘s driving style more, the Mexican driver acknowledged that he no longer feels Same.
“I haven’t been as comfortable after the car developments as I was at the start of the season, to put it that way. I think I have work to do to understand what’s going on and hopefully I can have a calmer weekend here at Austria,” he replied.
Pressed on whether development was now focused on the front of the car, Perez would say only: “It’s being that way in terms of how comfortable I felt at the start, but I’ve only had two races since then and the last weekend I felt really bad, so I think this is the first weekend where I’m going to be able to see [whether it is or not]”.

Checo , who heads into the Austrian GP weekend after shaving 12 points off Verstappen at Silverstone, explained that the main objective is for things to go well for Red Bull as a team as he battles with his teammate for the drivers’ title.
“I want to beat Max, that’s no secret, but I also want the whole Red Bull team to do well. If Max wins it’s not the best thing for my championship hopes, but in the end I’m happy too because it’s my team. The competition is only increasing, so it’s important to continue to push hard and keep moving forward,” he said.
Finally, the driver from Guadalajara assured that he cannot imagine having an accident on the track with Verstappen despite fighting for the same goal.
“We have the freedom to race, we want to do our best personally, but obviously [the team] doesn’t want us to have an accident and neither do we. I think we have a very good level of respect for each other and I can’t imagine crashing into each other.” , he concluded.