Five races before I’m fully comfortable in Red Bull F1 car - Perez

Sergio Perez expects it will take him five races until he is fully accustomed to Red Bull’s 2021 Formula 1 car.

The Mexican joined Red Bull as Alex Albon’s replacement for 2021 and got his first extensive run out in the team’s upgraded RB16B across three days of pre-season testing in Bahrain.

Perez logged a total of 166 laps and topped the timesheets on the final morning of running before new teammate Max Verstappen lowered the benchmark to keep Red Bull at the head of the field on Sunday evening.

After moving teams for the first time in seven years, Perez has had limited time to get up to speed with Red Bull’s F1 machinery and Honda’s power unit during F1’s shortest-ever pre-season test.

"It's something quite interesting in that regard, because we have not lot of time - it's been definitely the shortest pre-season I've done in my career,” Perez explained.

“I still have a lot of things to learn in the car, to get the maximum out of it. But I mean, the best I can do is just to be patient, and take the first races as they come.

“Races I will get more on top of things in the team. For now, I just have to be patient, and together with my engineers, we just have to keep working very hard.”

Asked how long he believes it will take to be completely comfortable in the RB16B, Perez replied: “It’s hard to pick a number - after five races.

“Once we go to very different races, with different conditions, you understand the car and the team a lot better. I think five races, proper races, should be good."