The Mexican’s victory in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix has moved him to within six points of world championship leader Max Verstappen and confirmed him as a genuine challenger for the crown.
Reflecting on the Baku performance, and especially on the way he controlled the pace at the front - like in Saudi Arabia - Perez has singled out work he did with his engineers over the winter in addressing tyre management problems as triggering a transformation in his fortunes.
“I think one of my weaknesses last year was looking after the tyres,” said Perez, when asked by Autosport about the importance of the Baku result.
“During the winter, I sat down with my engineers to go through it, because I was pretty disappointed [with last year] - I didn't have good race pace.
“I think we managed to understand a lot of things and we've been much better in that regard this year.”
While Perez has a reputation as being one of the best drivers at looking after tyres in the past, he says those skills were not easily transferrable to the Red Bull car concept.
Source: Autosport