Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner has been full of praise for Sergio Perez on the back of his fourth-place finish at the Portuguese Grand Prix last weekend.
The Mexican driver has so far earned a fifth and fourth in the opening three races whilst round two at Imola saw him outside the points after a spin in tricky conditions.
However, he’s showing decent signs of progression with his new team and in clear air on Sunday his race pace was similar to that of the leaders, which is naturally a positive thing.
There will be an expectation for him to be challenging for the top three more in the rounds to come but the early signs have been decent enough, and Christian Horner is pleased with what he has seen from the former Racing Point driver:
“Here’s been really difficult because of the wind and so on. But you can see just the races are coming together for him,” he said to the press post-race in Portugal.
“When he was in clean air he managed to pass Norris – who passed him fully off the track, again another track limits inconsistency. Once he was in clean air, he was doing the same lap time as the leaders and at certain points was setting the fastest lap.
“So I think it’s really coming together for him. I’m happy with the progress he’s making and it’s only with more time and experience that everything just comes together for him.”
‘Checo’ is a likeable driver and many were excited to see him remain in the paddock for this season with a car that should give him the opportunity to build on the one race win he has in his career so far.
Indeed, he’s not quite mixed it with the likes of Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton at the very front of the pack just yet – barring a brief spell on the front row at Imola – but he is finding his feet and there will be a hope he will only keep improving as the races begin to increase in frequency in the coming months.
