Red Bull team driver Sergio Perez sees Yuki Tsunoda as capable of delivering results after the team decided to move the Japanese driver up to the main team over Liam Lawson who got sent back to Racing Bulls after only two races of the season.
When speaking to a media exclusively Perez said his former team needs better results following their challenging season start and expressed support for Tsunoda to succeed in his first race with the squad.
“I really want the team to do well, as I have a lot of friends at the team. I spent four years with them and I want to see them doing well. It’s just a very hard thing to talk about.” Perez said.
“Yuki has the talent, has the speed and, more than that, you need the mentality to cope with it.
“I think he has the right mentality and the right attitude to cope with it. I hope they will succeed.” Perez added.
Perez found himself surrounded with difficulty when driving the RB20 while Verstappen won his fourth drivers’ title in the following 2024 season during his four seasons with Red Bull Team.
Under the agreement between Perez and the team he left immediately even though his contract extended till 2025.
The team decided to select Lawson for the upcoming season after he had filled in as super-sub twice with Racing Bulls in consecutive years.
Lawson faced two rough races in Australia and China as he crashed out of the first and qualified at the last position in each of the Sprint and main Grand Prix in the second race.
“Right now, I’m on the outside, I’ve been in touch with some team members there – but when you’re not there internally, it’s hard to know what’s happening.” Perez said.
“For me, it was very simple, the car is just quite difficult to get 100% out of it, to get the confidence out of it – and the things I struggled with, even Adrian Newey, the team’s former design chief talked about them.” he added.
