Perez needs ‘five proper races’ to get on top of RB16B

Red Bull recruit Sergio Perez says he’ll probably need about “five proper races” to better understand and get comfortable with Red Bull’s RB16B charger.

Perez contributed 166 laps to Red Bull’s testing program in Bahrain, capping off his three half days with his new team by topping the timesheet in Sunday’s morning session.

Last year’s Sakhir GP winner has not had the usual amount of pre-season time to get acquainted with Red Bull, which means that Perez’s preparation period will extend into the start of the 2021 campaign.

“It’s crazy to think that pre-season has already finished, it feels like it only just started. I think this is the shortest pre-season ever in my career!” the Mexican said.

“There’s a very limited amount of running and testing but we managed to work through a lot of set-up options and are improving every time we get into the car.

“I’m very excited about the season and I think we’ve got a good car underneath us but I still have a lot to learn in the car to get the maximum out of it.”

Asked how many races he will require to get up to speed and comfortable with his mount, Perez said: “It’s hard to pick a number – after five races.

“Once we go to very different races, with different conditions, you understand the car and the team a lot better. I think five races, proper races, should be good.

“In the races I will get more on top of things in the team. For now, I just have to be patient, and together with my engineers, we just have to keep working very hard.”

Read also: Strong Red Bull a ‘different animal’ in 2021 – Hamilton

Red Bull head of engineering Guillaume Rocquelin believes the Milton Keynes-based outfit really made the most of its three days in Bahrain and now has a solid baseline from which to develop its RB16B.

“Overall, this has been a positive test phase,” the Frenchman said. “Three days are never going to be enough; I don’t think anyone would say they are, but in terms of the time available, what we got out of this test was very useful.

“We’ve got a really good base to build from and we’re looking forward to coming back to Bahrain in a couple of weeks.”

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