Red Bull used Kimi Raikkonen-inspired technique this week to improve Sergio Perez’s performance

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It says a lot about how Sergio Perez’s 2024 Formula 1 campaign has gone that he’ll be happy to be starting on the third row of the grid at Zandvoort.

The Dutch Grand Prix is the first race back after a summer break that saw Sergio Perez cling onto his race seat at Red Bull following disappointment after disappointment earlier in the year.

Perez was still a few tenths behind Max Verstappen during the final session of qualifying on Saturday but given he’s crashed out in Q1 on several occasions in recent races, it’s an immediate improvement.

Red Bull have a reputation for being quick to make a change to their driver line-ups if things aren’t going to plan but with Perez, they’ve decided to persist – at least for now.

Perez may have just four races to save his Red Bull seat but according to journalist Andrew Benson speaking on the Chequered Flag Podcast, the team are doing everything possible behind the scenes to help him rediscover the form that earned him the race seat in the first place.

In the build-up to Sunday’s race at Zandvoort, Red Bull organised some driver coaching for Perez to help him reaffirm his skillset.

They contacted Rob Wilson who has a reputation for helping drivers at the very highest level hone their skills.

That includes former world champion Kimi Raikkonen and if it’s good enough for The Iceman, then it’s good enough for Perez.

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Red Bull organised driver coaching for Sergio Perez ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix

Speaking about Perez’s performance in qualifying, Benson said: “So [he’s] three-tenths behind Verstappen, that’s respectable, and he’s lucky because he’s fifth, Hamilton’s not in the picture, and the Ferraris are out of the way, he’s not going to have to deal with the Ferraris in the way that he did in Belgium, for example, four weeks ago.

“So he’s got a chance now to have a good race. The problem was he had a chance to have a good race in Belgium, and he didn’t, he dropped from the front to the back of the lead group.

“But it just goes to show how much effort Red Bull is putting in to try and get him back to what they believe he can do because he had some driver coaching at Silverstone this week.

“The guy who Red Bull used is someone called Rob Wilson. He’s a very well-renowned driver coach, and it’s not that unusual for a Formula One driver to go to Rob Wilson, especially when they’re struggling.

“Kimi Raikkonen’s one driver, for example, who’s done work with him.

“It’s about taking them back to basics, the feel, the steering, and all that sort of stuff. It sounds ridiculous that you can do this in a road car, which is where they do it.

Benson explained that Wilson will sit next to a driver in an F1 car and talk them through the inputs, such as how to most effectively use the steering wheel, the throttle and the brake.

They then go through these principles in a sports car rather than a Formula 1 car and that proves surprisingly effective.

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Sergio Perez has to achieve his first top-six finish since Miami at Zandvoort

Perez was asked about his training and said: “It was just [to] get up to speed, it’s always good to refresh your mind, and things that I was struggling with understanding them.

“But I think, generally speaking, it’s been a very good weekend for the team in terms of understanding with the car, and I think we can go from there.”

Perez was left frustrated during qualifying after being impeded by Lewis Hamilton during Q2.

It meant he had to use an extra set of tyres to reach the top ten shootout on Saturday and that limited his chances of starting closer or even ahead of his teammate.

However, Perez’s race pace has been the worry and his performance at Spa highlighted that perfectly.

He had the perfect opportunity to impress after starting on the front row, but eventually sunk to the back of the leading pack and only avoided another 8^th-place finish due to George Russell’s disqualification.