Perez bites back: "I didn't forget how to drive"

Perez survived Q2 by the skin of his teeth and then went on to secure the third-fastest time in Q3. As a result of his teammate's engine penalty, Perez moved up to the front row of the grid and will start alongside Charles Leclerc. It marks Perez's best qualifying session since the Chinese Grand Prix in April. 

In fact, it will only be the second time Perez has started inside the top ten since the first weekend in May. This struggle put doubt on his future as a Red Bull driver, with McLaren drastically outscoring and chasing them down in the Constructors Championship. He picked up a lot of criticism, and Perez has now replied.

"It's not like I forgot how to drive from five or six races ago. You see it with a lot of drivers. If you don't maximise your car, you lack the confidence to get the most out of the car you have. We have been taking good steps in the right direction since Hungary. There are a lot of drivers that haven't been able to maximise their performance lately, but obviously, the scrutiny on my side has been quite a bit higher," Perez said after qualifying in Belgium.

Did the Belgian Grand Prix qualifying result save Perez?

"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. 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 had been knocked out in Q2. It's tomorrow what really counts, and if I don't have a good race tomorrow, I will try to have a good one in Zandvoort," Perez added.

"The car is going in the right direction for now, and hopefully, tomorrow, we will be able to finish it off with a strong result. There is a long way to go in the season. Just need to keep my head down. The team, myself are focusing on and what we've got do at the end of the day. The rest, I couldn't care less," Perez concluded.