Perez: The motivation at Red Bull is sky-high

Perez outqualified teammate Max Verstappen two Saturday's ago for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and might have snatched pole from Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton. But on race day the Mexican was uncharacteristically out of sorts in conditions which he normally laps up.

As mentioned this was a role swap at Red Bull where Verstappen is expected to hand it to the Mexican, and on race days the veteran does his tyre-whisperer magic.

In qualifying, no one expected Perez to beat Verstappen, yet it is only round two and already he has done what no driver has managed to achieve since 2017.

Perez reflected ahead of Portimao: "I was very pleased with my progression after qualifying on the front row at Imola. I think I even surprised myself to be that quick in only my second race weekend at Red Bull, and to be able to extract the maximum from the car in such a short amount of time.

"Looking back at it, I think being able to adapt to such a different car and driving style definitely gives me a big confidence boost and it showed me I can adapt well. I am starting to understand the car and that was the main positive."

There is a spring in the step of every member of the Bulls because they know they have a fighting chance of ending Mercedes reign over the sport; the RB16B an inspiration to the team as all race-winning cars tend to be.

Fortunately, this one has been good from the first day and not six months into the season as has been the problem for them over the years.

Perez continued: "The motivation is sky-high. The way we work at Red Bull, we prepare our race weekend to take the maximum from it because we know if we do everything right we have a realistic chance of winning the race.

"Everyone in the Team is also pushing really hard to try to improve the RB16B so we can maximise every single weekend with both cars – that’s the target. Imola was a missed opportunity as I think we should have finished 1-2 but hopefully, we can achieve that this weekend."

Imola proved to be a race of high attrition thanks to the old-school nature of the track that punishes mistakes; Portimao will bring a similar 'win-it-or-bin-it' element that challenges drivers.

Last year, driving for Racing Point, Perez qualified fifth and finished the Portimao race in seventh. He should be good for a podium this time around.

"We know what the car is capable of and the goal is to deliver on its potential. The positive is that the pace is there, we just need to continue building on our form and take another step forwards."

As for his own progress with his new team: "It’s just time in the car. Obviously, the more work you put in, the more you get out, so I analyse, I make notes, I speak to the engineers and I watch back footage. Everything you do just helps get you as ready as possible.

"You can see with everyone that has changed teams this year, it takes time to get up to speed. Everyone is good, everyone is exceptionally fast, it’s just a process you need to go through before everything comes to you naturally and hopefully we can achieve that in the opening races of the season."

Perez said of the forthcoming round three: "Imola is a pretty tough track to get on top of and maximise, especially if you’ve recently swapped teams but, in Portugal, I hope to be in the mix and get everything out of the car.

"It's a great place to go racing. It’s fairly new to the calendar and last year was tricky with the new asphalt so it will be interesting to see how it is this year in terms of grip but certainly, it’s a good track.

"It’s the first back to back of the season and races are coming thick and fast now so it will be important to be on it!" added Checo who will be making his 194th Grand Prix start on Sunday at the Algarve International Circuit.