Perez gives first reaction after (temporary) change to his race engineer
F1 News
- Ludo van Denderen
For Sergio Perez, the first day of the summer break was particularly exciting. The day after the Belgian Grand Prix, the Mexican heard whether he could stay on as Max Verstappen's team-mate at Red Bull Racing for the time being. The answer was positive for him, so next weekend the veteran will compete at the Dutch Grand Prix. However, Perez will have to do without his regular race engineer Hugh Bird.
Back in Europe in the meantime, Perez says: "I am looking forward to getting back in the car this weekend. The summer break was very important for everyone in the Team and the whole sport, with so many races now everyone needs the rest and reset time more than ever. I spent my time in Mexico with family and I feel refreshed and ready to go for the second half of the season."
Woody replaces Bird on Perez's radio
Last week Perez was in Milton Keynes at Red Bull's factory. There he will no doubt have spoken at length with Richard Cooke, nicknamed Woody. "Everyone will notice a change on the radio on our side of the garage in Zandvoort, Hugh my Race Engineer is expecting a baby very soon so will be spending some time at home and I wish him and his family the best of luck with their new arrival! Woody, my Performance Engineer will step up in the meantime."
For Perez, it will be important to get results in the coming period. He is confident of that. "I know what we can extract from the car in the coming weeks and we will do our best to maximise the second half of 2024," Perez said.
This article has been written in collaboration with Matt Gretton