Updated:2024-10-06 04:28 Views:91
Sergio Perez pictured at Friday's opening practice session Sergio Perez pictured at Friday's opening practice session 
Sergio Perez accused the media of lacking understanding regarding Red Bull's recent issuessuper game, as the team rediscovered their pace in Friday's first practice at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. (More Motorsport News)
Red Bull looked set to dominate Formula One again after making a flying start to 2024, but McLaren have made it a fight for the constructors' championship crown.
Max Verstappen won seven of the first 10 races of the season but has since failed to record a victory in six outings, while Perez has gone 11 races without a podium finish after achieving four in the first five races of the year.
Red Bull rediscovered their pace at first practice in Baku on Friday, though, with Verstappen finishing fastest ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Perez following in third.
Speaking ahead of that session, Perez acknowledged he had suffered more than Verstappen from difficulties with the team's RB20 car, but said many onlookers lacked understanding.
"I've had them probably for the last 15 months, with the car development, the direction, the trajectory we've been taking," Perez said of his issues.
"I think it's a thing with the style of Max. The good thing is he was less sensitive to the issues we had, just by his nature.
"Some people don't understand it, especially from the media side, that different driver styles can come to different conclusions.
"Ten, 12 races ago, I was complaining about these issues, but now they are so big that even Max is feeling them. I think the solution will benefit me even more with my style.
"It's very clear in the data, the team is fully aware of it and hopefully we can fix the issues soon going forwards. Then we can unlock a lot of performance from the car."
Starting strong in BakuWe finish our first practice session in P1 and P3 #F1 super game