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Red Bull’s Sergio Perez believes he is able to hit the ground running at the start of each Grand Prix weekend, in stark contrast to last season.

In 2021, his first season with Red Bull, Perez struggled to find an initial setup he was comfortable with as he started at each Grand Prix.

Unlike team-mate Max Verstappen, who had years of experience with the team, the RB16B was a completely new environment for Perez after leaving Racing Point at the end of 2020.

This meant that, alongside gelling with a new team around him, the car itself took plenty of getting used to – meaning Perez frequently started weekends on the back foot as he sought a baseline setup to work from, while Verstappen was able to get straight into the business of unlocking more performance.

That dynamic has completely changed for 2022. Revolutionary regulations reset the drivers’ experience with the cars, meaning Perez was able to start with, essentially, a blank sheet of paper – putting him on level terms with Verstappen.

That reset has clearly yielded dividends so far this year, with Perez currently second in the Drivers’ Championship. Trailing Verstappen by 46 points, the Mexican has taken a clear step forward this year as he claimed an emphatic win in Monaco to go along with four second places.

“Yeah, I think I’m definitely more comfortable with the car than I was last year,” he told media over the Canadian Grand Prix weekend.

“For example, it took me a bit longer to adapt to last year’s car so, this year, I can feel that already from FP1 I can start