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I’m not just an F1 street circuit specialist

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The Mexican’s victory at the recent Azerbaijan Grand Prix put him firmly in the world title race as he hunts down Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen.

But with five of his six F1 victories on street circuits, his success on more traditional venues remains in doubt.

Yet Perez believes the progress he has made in unleashing Red Bull performance, which he believes was key to beating Verstappen in Saudi Arabia and Baku this year, will be just as effective on the normal track.

Plus: How Perez’ claims for F1 2023 title glory really stack up ‘in battle’

“The reason I’m doing well at these circuits is because I’m in a better car than I was before,” he said.

“So I don’t see any reason why, when we go to different tracks, I can’t play the car like I used to.”

Perez believes it’s his confidence to find the limits of the car and deal with the added pressure of racing so close to the wall is the key to why he’s so good on the street circuit.

“I think on the street circuit you have to be very strong in the race and very strong under pressure,” he said.

“You have to be able to take the pressure because you can’t make a mistake. If you make a small mistake, in the normal circuit, you can get away with it.

Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing

Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing

Photography: Red Bull Content Pool

“But on the street, you can’t get away with those mistakes. On game day, I’m probably more confident than the others.

“At the end of the day, I won in Baku with sheer speed, it doesn’t matter if it’s a street circuit or a permanent track. If I can do it in Baku, I can do it anywhere.”

Perez has been free to play Verstappen so far this season and is confident the open door policy between the pair will remain in place, giving him a chance at the title.

“I do believe the team is going to support me like they did with Max, because that’s pretty much what they’ve been doing since the start of the season,” he said.

“In that regard, I think we have to thank Red Bull very much. It was easy for Red Bull to carry out the team orders from lap 20, look after the car and make sure we had a very reliable car and so on.

“But no, in Jeddah and Baku we gave it our all throughout the race and both drivers hit the wall a few times.”

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Alonso vs Verstappen; who beats whom? 'Man, that is hard'

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While Fernando Alonso is not yet in contention for a win in 2023, the Spaniard’s performance in a relatively strong Aston Martin looks like a comeback. Even with a slightly better car, the nearly 42-year-old F1 driver could take on Max Verstappen, a fight everyone including Pedro de la Rosa would love to see.

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Mercedes and Ferrari set for crucial 2024 no-blanket Pirelli F1 tyre test

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The race in Barcelona is significant because Pirelli raced on its 2024 tires just once before the FIA ​​made a final decision on whether to go ahead with the original race plan – after the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, where Red Bull took part. There is no blanket for the game next season.

Current rules say the blankets will remain in place until 2024, and a decision on whether to change and abandon them must be made by July 31.

Several drivers who tested early prototypes of the blanketless tires in winter were not happy with them, with Lewis Hamilton calling them “dangerous”.

However, testing after the Bahrain Grand Prix showed more promise and Pirelli believes next week’s race in Spain will represent a further step.

An early design of the future structure will be used for this year’s British Grand Prix and was tested by drivers in Barcelona on Friday.

The FIA ​​has approved the carpetless all-wet tyres, which were first used by Sergio Perez and the Haas drivers during the Monaco Grand Prix.

“It’s very important for us,” Pirelli’s chief engineer Simone Berra told Autosport of the Barcelona race.

“We’re testing most of the compounds, we have a lot of variants. We’re trying to test different structures to move forward because the goal is to have no blankets in 2024.

“So we need a structure that obviously needs to have good integrity, a high level of integrity, but needs to work really well at the start of the run when the pressure is lower and help the compound get to temperature and become in the operating range .

“So we’re continuing to develop new structures. Then we’ll start looking at new families of compounds that don’t use blankets. So I think that’s going to be a good test for us.

“The Barcelona we know is representative because we have high-speed sections. It’s a normal track, a more complete track compared to Bahrain when we tested at the beginning of the season.”

While not entirely representative, Bella believes the Bahrain test has helped point Pirelli in the right direction, with the tires due to run in Spain next week meeting the requirements.

Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-23, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-23

Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-23, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-23

Photography: Andy Horn / motorsport pictures

“I think we’ve gotten some interesting stuff,” he said. “Obviously Bahrain is not really important for all circuits because you have a high temperature on the track and you have high traction demands and braking demands.

“So we need to test the new structure on different tracks where you have high lateral loads, higher severity and maybe cooler temperatures compared to Bahrain, just to see where we’re going in a good direction effort.

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“When we were testing in Bahrain, we had some good options out of the box. But there were still some things that needed to be fine-tuned, finalized, and this was a new proposal.

“So that’s what the test is for. We’re trying to develop a structure that helps generate the temperature on the tyre, so that the compound can work. That means the structure is less stiff and can increase stiffness as pressure increases .”

Bella believes Pirelli will finally get the FIA’s approval to ditch blankets in 2024.

The test will also see the Mercedes track debut of the team’s reserve driver Mick Schumacher, who will tackle the W14 on Wednesday after George Russell entered the race the previous day.

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Fernando vs Verstappen; who beats whom? 'Man, that is hard'

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While Fernando Alonso is not yet in contention for a win in 2023, the Spaniard’s performance in a relatively strong Aston Martin looks like a comeback. With a slightly better car, the nearly 42-year-old F1 driver could challenge Max Verstappen. A fight that everyone, including Pedro de la Rosa, wanted to see.

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