Fine margins on 2022 compounds behind Perez’s F1 tyre struggles

All through his F1 profession, Perez has carved out a fame as being one of many strongest drivers with regards to tyre administration, significantly throughout his stints with Sauber and Pressure India.

However Perez admitted after the season finale in Abu Dhabi that he had struggled extra with this yr’s Pirelli tyres, which modified to 18-inch wheel rims and had been designed to permit drivers to push extra.

“I struggled a bit with these tyres this yr, by way of managing the tyres within the race,” Perez mentioned.

“So hopefully that may be one thing that we are going to enhance for subsequent yr, and usually simply be a bit stronger.”

Perez’s tyre struggles proved pricey in Abu Dhabi as he was pressured to change to a two-stop technique after taking an excessive amount of out of his front-right tyre within the early a part of the race.

It price the Mexican monitor place to Charles Leclerc, his rival for second place within the championship, and he was unable to make up the hole within the last stint, leaving him to complete third in each the race and the ultimate standings.

Requested by Autosport/Motorsport.com about Perez’s tyre struggles this yr, Horner famous how small set-up modifications had been now having a higher affect on how the tyres carried out.

Sergio Perez, Crimson Bull Racing

Picture by: Crimson Bull Content material Pool

“What we’ve seen this yr is the margins are so positive,” mentioned Horner.

“You could be a click on of entrance wing out, or a little bit of experience top , or a small quantity of mechanical stability, and it will probably have a dramatic impact in your tyre life.

“I believe that Checo’s pushed so many races the place he’s been improbable on the tyres. [In Abu Dhabi] it was simply the primary stint that compromised him, the place the entrance proper began to grain fairly closely in comparison with Charles and Max [Verstappen].

“That then put him out of sync the place we needed to pit and that was on a really compromised one cease. So the two-stop was the extra attacking race.”

Perez struggled to maintain a problem to Verstappen over the course of the season, profitable two races to his team-mate’s 15 and ending the yr 149 factors behind.