Perez: "In F1, one race doesn’t change your life"

Sergio Perez is experiencing a golden period, having finished on the podium in two of the last three races this season. While he managed to take advantage of the unique circumstances of the Monaco race, he secured his third-place finish in Baku on merit, as he started second on the grid.

While he is obviously delighted with this situation, he still believes that his level of competitiveness in Azerbaijan was exceptional and will be hard to replicate, as he explained during his press conference in Austria: “Baku was clearly an exception. I expect it to be much closer here, in Austria. I hope we can fight with the Williams.”

Indeed, the 26-year-old driver notes that his level compared to Mercedes was similar to that of previous races. Only his ranking changed: “Our gap with Mercedes hasn’t changed. It’s just that everyone got the tires wrong while we found the right balance. It’s clearly an engine circuit, which helped us a lot compared to the competition.”

But such performances at the start of the summer season could only give rise to rumors of a possible transfer to Ferrari, which might decide to replace Kimi Räikkönen for the next season. Nevertheless, the former Scuderia protégé does not want to give more importance to these rumors: “You know, in Formula 1, one race doesn’t change your life. I learned that earlier in my career. In F1, as soon as a driver performs well, they are automatically linked to Ferrari because it’s the biggest team.”

He thus claims that neither he nor his management have had any contact with Ferrari: “These are just rumors. We haven’t had any contact with them.” But in a world as small as that of an F1 paddock, discussions can occur very quickly, in one way or another.

While he’s in his sixth season in F1, he has now learned to take things with perspective and focus on what matters, namely the results on the track: “These rumors just mean that I am back on top, that I am doing a good job, and that I continue to progress. But now, we are entering a crucial part of the season, with four races in five weeks.”

He therefore leaves all discussions about his future to his entourage to focus on the upcoming races. He is even more inclined to do so because he has already experienced this type of situation in 2012 when he secured three podiums with Sauber, before moving to McLaren the following season.

Nevertheless, the adventure had been short-lived and the Mexican had left Woking after a modest season. If he were to return to a big team, it wouldn’t be about revenge for that episode, just a means to progress: “No, it’s not about revenge against McLaren. I just want to succeed in F1, and that means becoming world champion. So if I join a big team, I will be closer to that goal.”

From our special correspondent in Spielberg

With the participation of www.racingbusiness.fr