Perez targeting Verstappen in Jeddah: 'Important to get past Leclerc'

Sergio Perez failed to get his RB20 on the front row of the grid during qualifying on the second race weekend. The Mexican was 0.016 seconds slower than Charles Leclerc, which eventually earned him third place. Verstappen's teammate is disappointed to not being able to put his car next to the three-time world champion on the grid.

"It would have been nice to have locked out the front row but I think we are in a good position to fight tomorrow. I felt like we took a back from practice, we had a positive Thursday but qualifying was not the same case unfortunately," the Mexican said.

During the race weekend in Bahrain, Perez put his car in the fifth starting spot. In the end, he had good speed during the race, fighting his way back to second place. Thus, Red Bull is now 1-2 in the drivers' championship, with Verstappen leading the way.

According to Perez, anything is still possible during the race: "It’s important to get past Charles Leclerc as soon as possible and be in the mix, especially with the DRS zones I think it is going to be important to make progress early. I believe we have stronger race pace than Ferrari but degradation can kick in and change things very quickly. It is always a challenge here but you can overtake and race and there is a long way ahead of us."