Sergio Perez

Perez makes STARTLING admission over 2023 campaign

The Mexican was candid when analysing the previous F1 season

Stuart Hodge

Tuesday 26 December 2023 21:41 Updated: 22:57

Sergio Perez admitted that a "loss of control" was to blame for his struggles during the 2023 campaign.

The Mexican driver eventually managed to wrest it back though, meaning Red Bull secured its first ever one-two finish in the drivers' championship.

At times, though, the 33-year-old found himself toiling and was often on the receiving end of barbed remarks from Red Bull supremo Helmut Marko.

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Checo, after winning two of the first four races, failed to muster any sort of challenge to eventual world champion Max Verstappen from the Miami Grand Prix onwards and he admitted during an interview with FOX Sports Mexico, how he feels it all went wrong.

"We had, I don't know, two or three races where we lost control and things got out of our hand and others where things began to complicate more for us," he admitted.

"Looking at it from the outside, it was a hard year. At times we started really well, and at the start of the year we had dreams of fighting for the world championship after being very competitive in those first races."

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Perez: We always came back

Despite the pressure and occasional hardship, Perez feels certain the lessons from 2023 will leave him in a better position for the future.

He added: "I think that recovering from those difficult moments is what defines our season, though, because there were moments where it would have been easy for all this to beat us and it could have been a total failure - but it was not like that, we were able to come back, we always came back and that is what was salvageable about this year.

"In the end we were able to conclude by finishing with what was the best season ever for Red Bull, but without a doubt I leave reflecting on the big lessons we have from this year.

"Taking that into next year, I think that strengthens the whole environment of my team to be much more solid in 2024."

Red Bull Max Verstappen Sergio Perez Helmut Marko Miami Grand Prix