“Checo” Pérez between Max Verstappen and the director of Red Bull Racing, Christian Horner.
Photo: Rafael Cores / Impremedia
NEW YORK – The Mexican Sergio Pérez wants to forget the friction with his teammate Max Verstappen at the end of last season and look to 2023 with one goal: “to take two more leaps in the drivers’ championship”. This is how “Checo” told us during the presentation of the Oracle Red Bull Racing team in New York, where the new RB19 car was revealed and the collaboration with Ford was announced, which will be the supplier of hybrid engines for Red Bull from 2026 .
“Checo” Pérez, who just turned 33, completed his best season in 2022 with two Grand Prix wins, the first pole position of his career and 11 podiums. He finished third in the Drivers’ Championship, although he fought until the end for second place with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc from Monegasque. This year he wants more.
“The goal is to surpass what was done last year and take two more leaps in the drivers’ championship,” said Pérez.
The relationship with his teammate, the Dutchman Max Verstappen, champion in 2021 and 2022, was not the best last season. Especially since the Brazilian GP, where Verstappen, already a mathematical champion, did not want to help “Checo” by letting him pass so that the Mexican could score more points for the runner-up spot. But the man from Guadalajara does not want to look back.
“Working as a team, going forward all together, is going to be a very important part,” he said.
“Checo” does not believe that the addition of Daniel Ricciardo as the third Red Bull test driver will add pressure: “At Red Bull you are at the highest level and the pressure is always there.”
“We are very lucky to have him in the team because he is a very experienced driver,” he added about Ricciardo’s return to the team of which he was already a part between 2014 and 2018.
The new RB19 and the electrified future of Formula 1
Pérez did not want to give many details about the new RB19, the car that he will drive this season and which was revealed during the event held at the Classic Car Club in Manhattan: “It is an evolution of last year’s car. A lot of work has been done on the simulator, on the suspension part.”
During the same event Ford and Red Bull announced their new collaboration, which marks Ford’s return to Formula 1in which it has not participated since 2004. Starting in 2026, Ford will be the supplier of Red Bull’s powertrains, which will be hybrids with an electric battery and motor.
“It’s going to be a major rule change for 2026, but now you have to focus on 23, then 24,” Pérez explained. “But it’s good for the sport to go in that direction.”
· More news about Sergio “Checo” Pérez
