Why the F1 season actually got harder for Sergio Perez after it finished

Sergio Perez has not been able to put his feet up just yet as his commitments to Red Bull have kept him busy even despite the season ending.

Unfortunately for an F1 driver, their working week does not start and end at the track and such is the popularity of the sport now, they are also required to take part in a significant number of both sponsorship and media engagements.

So even after the 2023 season had drawn to a close, Perez did not have a clear calendar just yet.

Sergio Perez looking forward to winter break

First on Perez’s to-do list was the post-season test and then he was off to Japan for an event thanking Honda for their work. Then he went to Baku for another for the FIA’s Prize Giving Gala, so he is very much looking forward to some time off.

“I can’t wait to be honest,” he told Red Bull’s Talking Bull podcast about his holiday plans. “It’s been a long year. We finished the year and it felt like it just got harder once we were finished.

“We had the test, we had Japan, we had Baku. So we’ve been quite busy.”

As for how Perez will be spending his time off, he is off to enjoy some warm weather back in his native Mexico.

“I was in the snow last year so I will go somewhere a bit warmer to the beach in Mexico with family and friends, play some golf, and just have a few weeks to disconnect from recharge batteries.”

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Perez needs a break after a tough 2023 in which he fell below expectation in comparison to team-mate Max Verstappen. Reflecting back, he said the competition closed the gap to Red Bull much quicker than he expected,

“Started very strongly,” he said. “We had some ups and downs during the mid-season but we managed to turn it around to secure the best season in the history for our team.

“I think it’s what everyone back home deserves because they’ve done a tremendous car. Since Bahrain and the first four or five races, we knew we had a really strong package. But the competition closed the gap really quickly. Quicker than I really thought.

“I was surprised how much they were able to develop through the year, so it just got harder.”

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