Perez, who for this season is partnering Max Verstappen behind the wheels of RB16B for the team from Milton Keynes, is already a well established name in Formula 1. In his debut weekend in the Red Bull colours, he got eliminated in Q2 after a bad decision regarding tyres and ultimately started the race from the back of the grid after a power failure. Putting an incredible performance he was able to bounce back and finish 5th in the race, additionally scoring the (well deserved) title of the Driver of The Day. In addition to the result, Checo believes he made a big step forward in understanding the Red Bull machinery during the time in Bahrain, and is hoping he will be able to apply this knowledge in order to fight on the front during the upcoming weekend at Imola. 

As he said ahead of the weekend: “I learned more about Max’s driving style and how the car has to be driven to extract the maximum from it. I think that was the biggest learning, I know what balance I need from the car throughout the weekend. I think [at Imola] it’s going to be very tight with Mercedes and we’re going to see if the fight is circuit related. It will be interesting to see how we are, on a very different track to Bahrain, and see how we compare against them.”

After a solid performance last year during the race at Imola, where Perez finished 6th in a Racing Point car, he hopes for a good race but shifts a lot of the importance on the actual qualifying session. As he said: “My goal is to have a good race and I’m looking forward to the weekend. Hopefully in Imola we can come back and be in contention to fight for a podium and hopefully the win. Unlike Bahrain, qualifying is very important at Imola as you can hardly overtake there but I like it.”

So far the ability to adapt shown by Sergio Perez is incredible. He was not only able to acclimatise to the car fast, but immediately in the first race finish in the top 5, which is only proving of his great abilities as an F1 driver. Will we see Perez on the podium this weekend? 

The Emilia Romagna GP will take place on the 18th of April, and will definitely be one filled with great racing and emotions.