Sergio Perez sends Red Bull motivated message ahead of Grand Prix at Imola

Sergio Perez has urged Red Bull to keep their heads down and has said he is backing the team to keep improving and get on top of the reliability woes that they have been having.

The Formula 1 season approaches round four this weekend at Imola, and many are expecting it to be another Grand Prix where Ferrari and Red Bull are battling it out at the front.

Ferrari, of course, are on home turf in Italy and will be eager to continue their fine form in front of the Tifosi but, that said, the Bulls will be keen to try and spoil the party.

The team will be determined to sort out the reliability issues they’ve been having, too, and Perez has backed them to get on top of things and keep their heads down:

“We’ve been so unlucky these first few races,” said the Mexican driver.

“I really trust our people back in Milton Keynes. Everyone here at the track is working flat out and we’ve got to remember that this is a very long season.

“It was a shame that we lost Max [in Melbourne] for the team, especially with Carlos [Sainz] out it was a good opportunity to close up the gap to Ferrari, but yeah, it’s a very long season and a lot of work ahead of us.

“It was only race three of the season, so it’s a long way to go. It’s a big shame and these points are going to be costly at some point but we just have to keep our heads down and keep pushing.”

The RB18 is the closest car in terms of performance to the Ferrari at the moment but reliability issues have struck on too many occasions already.

They need to avoid further retirements if they’re to have a chance in both championships and they’ll know that, so we’ll just have to see what they can do in Imola to try and claw some ground back to Ferrari.