Sergio Perez has revealed to previously tackling the Nordschleife in a rental car, but would now like to follow in the footsteps of Max Verstappen after witnessing his exploits in the Nürburgring 24 Hours last weekend.
Four-time F1 champion Verstappen, along with team-mates Jules Gounon, Dani Juncadella and Lucas Auer, appeared on course for victory until their Mercedes AMG GT3 suffered a driveshaft failure.
Former Red Bull team-mate Perez has confirmed he kept up to date with how Verstappen fared “on social media”, claiming that it “was quite interesting”, and that “it looked really enjoyable”.
As to whether the Nordschleife is something he will want to tackle at a later date, speaking to the media in Montréal ahead of this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, including ApexF1News, Perez said: “Yeah, it will be something really enjoyable. I really like that circuit, and I’ve done it.”
Explaining how, he added: “When I used to race in Formula BMW in Germany, I always used to take my rental car for a lap or two around the Nordschleife. It’s really enjoyable.”
As to whether he managed to bring the rental car back in one piece, however, he laughed and said: “Not very often.”
Perez reveals ‘next big thing’ for Cadillac
Despite the difficulty of the new regulations, Cadillac has started the campaign on a solid footing, with Perez at least finishing all four grands prix, with a high of 15th in China.
At the last race in Miami, the team rolled out its first upgrade package, and there were encouraging signs it performed as expected, providing Cadillac with a platform on which to continue to add components.
“Obviously, being a new team and starting to put upgrades, starting to put performance into the car, and measuring that is when the team starts rolling, I would say,” remarked Perez.
“Definitely, it was a really good step in Miami, not so much in terms of performance, but in terms of understanding the package, and that’s what is going to make us improve what we currently have and will optimise every single area.”
In terms of the areas of the package the team still needs to firmly understand, Perez replied: “Pure load, we’re lacking a lot, and the right race sensitivity, and also the performance with the tyres, how we are treating them.
“That’s the next big thing for us because we were able to fight for a few laps with other cars, but then we just seem to kill the tyre too quickly.”
