Sergio Perez believes he can overcome "hardest driver to beat" in Max Verstappen and win 2023 world championship; Ferrari remaining "realistic" ahead of Australian Grand Prix - watch action from Albert Park live on Sky Sports F1 between Friday and Sunday
Friday 31 March 2023 05:49, UK
Sergio Perez says he is "certain" he can fight Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen for the Formula 1 world championship in 2023.
Perez triumphed at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix for the second year running on March 19 and is just one point adrift of reigning world champion Verstappen after two races of the season.
Verstappen came second, despite starting 15th on the grid due to a driveshaft issue in qualifying and battling illness before and during the race weekend.
The Dutchman's bonus point for setting the fastest lap in Jeddah kept him top of the drivers' standings going into this weekend's Australian Grand Prix.
When asked if winning the world championship was feasible for him, Perez said: "Certainly.
"We have a very strong car, a very strong package, a car I feel comfortable with, a car I am working well with and a car I believe, with the direction we are taking in development, I can get the most out of.
"I think that is important to be able to stay in the fight throughout the season - to have a car that you can be competitive whatever conditions you are in.
"When you are in the fight for the championship you have got to take your A-game into every single race, you have to try everything you possibly can."
The Mexican driver will become Verstappen's longest-serving Formula 1 team-mate at the end of this season, surpassing Daniel Ricciardo, who left for Renault in 2019.
Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon went head-to-head with Verstappen at Red Bull but the Dutchman was too hot to handle.
"If I want to win the championship I have to beat Max weekend in, weekend out and keep this level of consistency throughout the season," said Perez.
"It think it's all about consistency and taking it race by race. You can win 15 races but in the other races if you crash and have DNFs it is not enough."
Ted Kravitz has been looking ahead to the Australian GP and what storylines we can expect from the third GP of the season. Listen to the Sky Sports F1 Podcast on Spotify.
"There is no doubt there is no driver on such form as Max. Together with the team and the car, he is definitely the hardest driver to beat. It will require the maximum out of me every single weekend.
"Having Max as a reference makes you a better driver, it takes everything out of you."
"Certainly last year when we started developing the car, it suited Max more. At the moment I believe we are asking for the same things.
"In the first two races we have been together very closely on balance, asking for similar sort of balance. In that regard, it is a good thing for now.
Regarding the possibility of tension if he goes head-to-head with Verstappen for the title, Perez added: "I am here to do the best possible thing for myself [but] we have a lot more respect for each other than people might think.
"There is a great atmosphere with the team, a very high level of respect between each other with all the engineers on their side and my side.
"I think we are both mature enough to know what's right and what's wrong. As long as that keeps being the case, I don't expect anything to change."
"He is someone very positive and great to have around. He never stops smiling and I think it is great for the team. We are in a very unique position to have Daniel around with the amount of experience he has. He has been doing a very good job for us.
Ferrari are looking to bounce back from a disappointing weekend in Saudi Arabia, with Carlos Sainz finishing sixth and team-mate Charles Leclerc one place worse off in seventh...
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc: "Clearly our performance is not as good as last year but we are working massively to try and come back at the front. We know where we need to work on.
"I don't think there will be any miracles for this weekend. It's an evolution from last year's car but clearly it's not enough when you look at where Red Bull is, especially in race pace. We've got lots of work to do.
"I think we've been quite good in qualifying since the beginning of the season. Where we need to focus is the race where our car is extremely peaky.
"When all the conditions are right, we seem to be able to extract the performance out of our package but whenever the conditions are changing a little bit then that's where we struggle.
"I do believe that we'll be quite close in qualifying - I hope so - but I think that the picture in the race will be quite similar."
Ferrari's Carlos Sainz: "We know this track is not too different from Jeddah. so there is nothing telling me that suddenly we should outpace the Red Bulls. I prefer to keep expectations low because it's being realistic.
"We are three tenths off in qualifying but eight tenths off in the race. I think it would need to be a freaky track like a Monza or a Monaco to change the situation but we are always optimistic.
"At the moment the car is a bit inconsistent, a bit unpredictable. It is not the easiest to set-up but we know why. We have analysed the data and clearly see where the weaknesses are.
"This gives us a good picture of the direction we need to go but it will not be in a matter of a race or two or three - it will be more mid-term."
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso: "At the moment we are extremely happy with the performance of the car. It was better than expected, especially in Jeddah.
"I think it was a nice surprise. We arrived here with a good level of confidence but I think the cars will change a lot in a few areas so let's see if we can keep this pace.
Mercedes' George Russell: "It's definitely heading in the right direction. I think if we manage to get another P4 or fight for the podium that will probably be exceeding the potential of the car.
"I think Aston [Martin] are going to be really strong. They seem to be the quickest car in medium-speed corners and there's plenty of them here in Melbourne. If we can fight with Aston and Ferrari again, that'd be a good weekend."
Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton: "The thing that I was lacking in the race [in Saudi Arabia] was a lot of front end, which that [team-mate Russell's] setup gives you, so, in hindsight, that would've been great. We took lots of learnings from it - I think race pace was quite decent, particularly in the second stint."
McLaren's Lando Norris: "I think that if we look at the past and how we've done in Australia, it's generally one of our better-performing circuits. I want to have the faith that this weekend can continue that trend.
"At the same time, we've been a bit scrappy, a bit unlucky with reliability [and] I obviously made the mistake in qualifying last weekend. If we have a clean weekend, I don't see a reason why we shouldn't be able to score points. That's our goal."
Saudi we showed we can get into Q3 and fight for the back-end of points on our good days. I think qualifying especially gave me a lot of confidence in the way that we're working is the right way. Hopefully we can have a clean race and my front wing doesn't wipe out Lando this time!
Thursday
10:45pm: F3 Practice
Friday
12am: F2 Practice
2:30am: Australian F1 Grand Prix: Practice One (Build-up from 2am)
4am: F3 Qualifying
6am: Australian F1 Grand Prix: Practice Two (Build-up from 5.45am)
7:30am: F2 Qualifying
8am: The F1 Show Live: Australia
Saturday
12:45am: F3 Sprint
2:30am: Australian F1 Grand Prix: Practice Three (Build-up from 2.15am)
4:20am: F2 Sprint
6am: AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING (Build-up from 5:15am)
8am: Ted's Qualifying Notebook
Sunday
12:05am: F3 Feature Race
2:35am: F2 Feature Race
4:30am: Grand Prix Sunday - Australian GP Build-up
6am: THE AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX
8am: Chequered flag: Australian GP Reaction
9am: Ted's Notebook
Sky Sports F1 viewers can experience live races from inside the car of their favourite driver thanks to a stunning new innovation for the 2023 season.
Sky customers with a Sky Sports F1 subscription just need to download the Sky Sports App and log in to ride with Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc or any driver of their choice.
In addition to the 20 driver onboard streams, viewers will also be able to experience the Sky Sports 'Battle Channel', a split-screen offering focusing on a battle between up to three cars.
If you prefer to jump onboard through your TV screen, the service will also be available through Sky Q and Sky Glass.
This is in addition to the Race Control streams that have been available in previous seasons, including multi-screen, timing screen, driver tracker and onboard mix.
Formula 1 is back Down Under! Watch the Australian Grand Prix live on Sky Sports F1 this weekend, with Sunday's race live at 6am. Get Sky Sports
