Formula 1 Spanish GP
Perez: Monaco GP 'hurt' exposed wrong approach to F1 weekends
Sergio Perez says the 'hurt' of his disastrous Monaco Grand Prix weekend has triggered a rethink about how he must approach Formula 1 race weekends.
Jonathan Noble
Edited: Jun 2, 2023, 1:11 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The Mexican lost major ground to Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen in the championship in Monaco last weekend after a crash in Q1 left him at the back of the grid.
After failing to make much progress in the race as he got caught up in incidents, he is now facing a 39-point deficit to Verstappen in the standings ahead of this weekend's Spanish GP.
Perez feels it was important for him to own up to the errors he made last weekend, and make sure he approaches things from now on with a much calmer attitude that he adopted in Monte Carlo.
Reflecting on the fallout from his Monaco troubles, Perez said: "F1 is my passion and I live for it.
"It hurts a lot because you work so hard, and it is like you've let your whole team down. So, it hurts.
"But now this is behind me. It was important for me to put my hand up, and I think every time we do a mistake that is what you have got to do: take responsibility."
Perez says one of the biggest takeaways from what happened in Monaco was about better managing the approach to weekends, and not trying to rush things in the pursuit of beating Verstappen.
"I've learned basically that probably I should have taken things a bit easier," he said. "Everything was too late. It was a combination of things.
"We decided last minute to go for that lap, and then we had the Alpine just in front of us which took [the attention], and we had a lot of tailwind, basically, going on in the braking.
Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing, is interviewed on the podium
Photo by: Jake Grant / Motorsport Images
"So in hindsight, just being next time in Monaco, in Q1, probably not taking those decisions last minute will help us as well. But on top of all, I should have done a better job at pre-empting the situation."
With Verstappen in dominant form at the moment, Perez faces an uphill challenge if he wants to realistically challenge for the title.
Asked why he had faith that he could still battle for the crown, he said: "Because the speed is there.
"If this [Monaco] crash happened, and I was half a second off, then I will be more concerned. But the positive thing is we have the speed to be able to swing around things.
"For now, I'm mainly focused on weekend by weekend. And I want to win this weekend. And I want to get victories."
Read Also:
- Verstappen: Leaving F1 rules unchanged will let rivals catch up to Red Bull
- F1 needs stewards rethink to replace ‘"laymen" decisions, demands Steiner
- Albon: Losing chicane that "ruined" Barcelona F1 track will improve racing
He added: "I've been a match for Max since the beginning of the season, in one way or another: sometimes better or worse
"It's what I believe you have to be. I think being team-mates with Max, it's probably the toughest thing you can have because he is a driver that is in the best form of all. But I do believe that it is possible to beat him."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Verstappen: Leaving F1 rules unchanged will let rivals catch up to Red Bull
Next article Mercedes adds to upgrade package as top F1 teams reveal changes
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jonathan Noble
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
Formula 1
Formula 1 Dec 31, 2024
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Formula 1
Formula 1 Dec 31, 2024
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
Formula 1
Formula 1
Australian GP
Dec 28, 2024
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
Latest news
“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 2 h
“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return
Myers Riley Motorsports adds Andretti alongside returning Fraga for 2027 IMSA GTD campaign
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 2 h
Myers Riley Motorsports adds Andretti alongside returning Fraga for 2027 IMSA GTD campaign
Las Vegas GP reveals neon sign-inspired trophy design
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Las Vegas GP
3 h
Las Vegas GP reveals neon sign-inspired trophy design
Feature
Discover prime content
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Formula 1
By Kevin Turner
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe