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MEXICO CITY, MEXICO: Sergio Perez of Mexico and Racing Point waves to the crowd from the garage during final practice for the F1 Grand Prix of Mexico at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, Mexico. (Photo by Charles Coates/Getty Images)
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MEXICO CITY, MEXICO: Sergio Perez of Mexico and Racing Point waves to the crowd from the garage during final practice for the F1 Grand Prix of Mexico at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, Mexico. (Photo by Charles Coates/Getty Images)
Mexican driver Sergio Perez will be racing for Red Bull F1 for the upcoming 2021 season. To help with the transition to a Red Bull car, they have decided to give him extra test days.
Perez has signed for the Austrian team after having had the best season of his career in 2020. He earned his first career F1 race victory at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix. He finished fourth in the Driver’s Championship with 125 points behind the trio of Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen.
Perez to get test-run in old Red Bull car
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According to RacingNews365, Sergio Perez will get some extra time in a Red Bull car before winter testing in Bahrain. The team is planning on having the Mexican test an older model car for one or two days at Silverstone.
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HOCKENHEIM, GERMANY – Second place qualifier Max Verstappen of Netherlands and Red Bull Racing celebrates in parc ferme during qualifying for the F1 Grand Prix of Germany at Hockenheimring in Hockenheim, Germany. (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)
With deference to regulations, Perez will need to test a Red Bull which is atleast two years old. So, if this is the case, it means he will be driving a 2019 Red Bull with the Honda engine. But that may not pan out.
So, he may actually be testing the 2018 Torro Rosso equipped with a Honda engine. His teammate, Verstappen will not be availing this as the 2021 car is a modified version of the 2020 car.
Austrian team’s goals for 2021
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Red Bull have made a smart acquisition by signing Sergio Perez. They pounced when he was available on the driver market after he was announced to be replaced by Sebastian Vettel for 2021.
The Milton-Keynes outfit, over the last two seasons, has missed having a reliable second driver to get those consistent points. They have had some great duos over the years. They’ve had Vettel-Mark Webber, Daniel Ricciardo-Vettel and Ricciardo-Verstappen.
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NUERBURG, GERMANY – OCTOBER 10: Alexander Albon of Thailand and Red Bull Racing and Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner talk in the garage during qualifying ahead of the F1 Eifel Grand Prix at Nuerburgring in Nuerburg, Germany. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
These duos have been important as they have gotten those race victories out of nowhere. They have taken advantage of errors and capitalised. Something which they’ve lacked from Pierre Gasly in 2019 and Alex Albon in 2020.
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They are hoping the experience of Perez will be able to take the second car to podiums, victories or at the bare minimum, top five finishes. This will allow them to assess whether they have tailored the car too much to Verstappen’s liking or they can stay the course and maybe promote Gasly when he has more experience.
