Perez hopes 'worst F1 weekend ever' helps in battle with Verstappen

Perez hopes to challenge Verstappen in 2024

Perez is at the start of one of the most crucial seasons of his F1 career. His contract with the Austrian racing stable expires after the 2024 season and there have long been noises about a possible replacement. Daniel Ricciardo is said to be at the front of the queue to make his return to the car alongside Max Verstappen.

The 33-year-old Perez knows that a host of rival drivers are eyeing his position for 2025, while team boss Christian Horner has already stated that it is up to the Mexican whether he can hold on to his seat or not. At the same time, Liam Lawson is also vying for a seat at AlphaTauri, so the performance pressure is higher than ever.

Verstappen's teammate had a difficult year in 2023, starting strong but seeing his performance decline further and further. It was only in Qatar that Perez realised he needed a different approach. "I was really in such a hole that we got together after Qatar, and we understood a lot of things we were doing with the car," he is quoted by Speedcafe.com.

"Because Qatar was the worst weekend I can remember for a while in the sport, probably my worst weekend ever in the sport. It was such a bad weekend that I felt like ‘I cannot be this bad', that there was something else going on. So we took the time to understand what was going on with the car," he continued. "The problems we had made me understand a lot more about what I was doing with the setup, and which direction I needed to go when I got issues. It's something that is definitely going to make us stronger."

Perez hopes he can build on these learning points with the RB20 so that he can challenge Verstappen more often in the new season. "What we lacked is the progression. We started the year on a high, on par with Max, but we were just unable to evolve through the season. If anything, we went backward at times," he explained.

"So that's my main priority, to be able to progress through the season. However I start, it's just important that weekend by weekend we keep evolving and keep getting better and better," Perez concluded.