Valtteri Bottas is no stranger to dealing with a formidable teammate, so the Finn is well placed to offer Sergio Perez some advice on how to avoid a “downward spiral” while contending with the dominance of Max Versappen.
Perez's 2023 campaign in F1 began with a surge of promise, marked by a win in Saudi Arabia, another in the adrenaline-fueled streets of Baku and a commanding pole position in the sun-kissed glamour of Miami.
Yet, as the season progressed, the Mexican driver's fortunes took a disheartening turn.
From the demanding twists and turns of Monaco onwards, Perez found himself grappling with the unyielding demands of Red Bull’s dominant RB19 and with his own troubles, a struggle that culminated in a string of five consecutive Q3 misses.
While he eventually managed to stabilize and improve his performance in the back half of the year, he was unable to take the challenge to Verstappen who rounded off his relentless forward march with a record 19 victories and a third world title.
Read also:
Perez’s plight wasn’t unlike the quandary faced by Bottas during his five seasons with Mercedes, when he was subjected to the ruling of one Lewis Hamilton.
The 34-year-old, now driving for Sauber, explained that despite his teammate’s unwavering supremacy, he never lost faith in his own confidence.
“I don’t really think about that,” he told Motorsport Magazin.
“It was just at that moment when I had to accept it. It was the last year together with Lewis. In each of the five years, I couldn’t finish ahead of him on average.
“I think it was his peak when he had great performances. But today I don’t think it has changed anything. I still go to the races with good confidence and feel like I can beat anyone on a good day.”
Bottas suggests that convincing oneself of one's capabilities can be a self-fulfilling prophecy, leading to improved performance.
By maintaining a positive mindset and visualizing success, drivers can boost their confidence and enhance their results.
The Finn identifies Perez's apparent lack of trust as a contributing factor to his recent struggles. Observing the correlation between self-belief and results can help Perez identify areas for improvement.
“You have to have this attitude [of self-belief],” Bottas added. “You can’t go into a race weekend and tell yourself you can’t beat him. You would have already lost.
“In this sense, it is a sport in which you always have to have good self-confidence and convince yourself.
“If you don’t have that trust, you’ll end up in a difficult downward spiral. You can see that on the stopwatch and the consistency.
“I would say, looking at what Checo is going through, he’s definitely lacking some trust. And you can see that in the results.”
Perez is contracted to Red Bull until the end of 2024, and only time will tell if the Mexican will remain with the Milton Keynes-based outfit beyond that term.
But team boss Christian Horner has made clear that the plum seat will be Perez’s to lose, although the team is likely many months away from pondering its 2025 driver line-up.
“I think the luxury position we're in, is that we're not in any rush,” Horner said.
“We've got loads of options and I think it is Checo's seat to lose. He's the one that we're backing. He's our 2024 driver.
“And if he does a great job next year, there's no reason that we wouldn't extend him into 2025. But it'd be purely based on what he achieves over what will be a large part of the season.”
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
