Sergio Perez hopes to challenge Max Verstappen at the 2023 F1 Saudi Arabian GP as 'very fine margins' continue to dictate pecking order

Sergio Perez is sure he can take the fight to Max Verstappen in Jeddah, with the confidence of taking pole position the last time in Saudi Arabia.

Speaking in the driver’s press conference ahead of the Saudi Arabian GP, the Mexican spoke to Sportskeeda about the fine margins that split him and his teammate.

Asked by Sportskeeda if he looks forward to fighting the Dutch champion in Jeddah, the Mexican said:

“Yes, certainly that will be my target, to try to be on pole and try to win the race. I think it's important. It's only the second race weekend, so we are in very fine margins. Bahrain was really close between us all. So yeah, looking forward to that.”

Speaking about his confidence going into the weekend in Jeddah after the pole last year, Sergio Perez said:

“It certainly gives me good confidence because I feel comfortable in the circuit. But every year it's a new challenge. We come here with different car, different tyres. So it's going to be different challenges. The track, it's a little bit different."

"I think is the beauty of our sport, that it doesn't really matter what you've done here in the past. Every year, it's a new challenge. So yeah, I certainly enjoy a lot the circuit, I think it's a great challenge for all the drivers, especially on Saturday in Qualifying. So yeah, hopefully we can get a good Quali because it's really important here.”

Suggesting that Max Verstappen and himself were split by fine margins in Bahrain, Sergio Perez is relishing the opportunity to give his teammate a tough fight in Jeddah.

Having claimed pole at this fast street circuit in 2022, Sergio Perez is looking forward to redemption and possibly clinching a win this time around in Saudi Arabia.

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Sergio Perez feels they could face competition from Ferrari and other rivals in Jeddah

F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia - Practice

Trying to lean onto the cautiously optimistic side, Sergio Perez believes Ferrari could be strong at the Jeddah circuit. The Mexican felt they will face stiffer competition from other rivals such as Aston Martin and Mercedes too as the circuit has different characteristics from the one in Bahrain.

Speaking ahead of the Saudi Arabian GP in the press conference, the Red Bull Racing driver said:

“Yeah, I think it's a very different circuit here. The requirements are very different, the degradation is not as severe as Bahrain. We certainly believe that Ferrari is going to be very strong around this place, so certainly Astons, Mercedes are going to be a lot closer to us because the requirements are very different here.”

While Sergio Perez could downplay their dominance to a certain extent, the Jeddah circuit’s power sensitive characteristic could propel rival teams closer to Red Bull. Most teams will be opting for low downforce wings and setups to optimize their straight line speed. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was certain that they could be better in straight line speed at the Saudi Arabian weekend.