Perez makes claim about ‘biggest Red Bull upgrade of the year’

Sergio Perez has claimed Red Bull’s upgrade at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix is its biggest of the season.

The Milton Keynes-based squad brought a new floor to the event as it looks to improve its on-track form, which has taken a dip of late.

Red Bull is also running an upgraded diffuser system, akin to that seen at Ferrari two weeks ago in Italy.

Perez ended qualifying from Baku in fourth place as he out-qualified team-mate Max Verstappen for the first time this year.

The Mexican driver, who has struggled for performance for much of the year, hailed the progress the upgrade has offered Red Bull.

“I think it’s a good turnaround, because we definitely brought a good upgrade,” Perez told Sky F1. “I think it’s the biggest upgrade of the year.

“We understood the issue a couple of races ago, but I think we’re just fixing it in the right direction, and hopefully we can just keep doing it, do a little bit more, because it will be key to turn around our season.”

Perez would have preferred Verstappen on pole

Pole position for the race went the way of Ferrari and Charles Leclerc, with the Monegasque driver boasting a three-tenths of a second gap over his closest rival.

Although he managed to beat Verstappen for the first time this year, Perez asserted he would have preferred the situation of seeing his team-mate on pole position to showcase the potential of the car.

“I just wish that Max was on pole instead of Charles [being] four-tenths ahead, and it makes you feel a little bit more comfortable within the car, that the potential is there,” he said.

“Unfortunately, it’s not the case at the moment. I think in race pace, I’m optimistic.

“We saw [on Friday], we were more competitive, but we were also more competitive over a single timed lap.

“What we saw from Ferrari today was very strong, but hopefully tomorrow, in the long race, things come more to us.”