Sergio Perez approaches the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix aiming to keep his impressive streak of success on street circuits, having taken all four of his F1 victories for Red Bull on temporary tracks.
That includes a win at Baku in 2021 that ultimately proved crucial in Max Verstappen‘s world championship win, and he’s already tasted victory once in the 2023 season at the Saudi Arabian GP.
And speaking in Azerbaijan, Perez revealed his biggest advice for street track success.
“On the street circuits it’s firstly important to finish,” Perez told the press. “And normally if you’re able to finish then there’s always a good result ahead of you.
“So Baku‘s always very easy to make mistakes and finish your weekends so that’s priority number one, to finish the races and build that confidence in FP1.
“What you’ve done in the past doesn’t really matter, every weekend is a new challenge and we come here to Baku, and the challenge is even greater with just FP1 before straight into qualifying.”
Perez: Baku’s always been good to me
Perez‘s only win of the 2021 season came in Baku but that’s not the only success he’s had there, he also finished third in 2018 and picked up his joint-best result of the 2019 season (sixth) in the city.
He arrives 15 points behind teammate Max Verstappen in the championship, but with a maximum 34 points on off across the sprint race and grand prix, there’s more than enough opportunity to eat into that defecit.
“I certainly enjoy this place,” Perez added. “I’ve had some good races, good cars as well that has helped me in the past.
“With Force India, we even made it to the podium and also in qualifying we were strong. It’s a circuit that really suits my driving style and that’s helped me to shine a bit more in this place.”
