Sergio Perez has revealed that the “horrible” outing in Australia remains fresh in his mind after the Mexican failed to get on the podium for a third race in a row.
Perez didn’t even manage to set a qualifying time before he spun out of the race and into the gravel trap on the circuit.
Reliability issues with his car would see Perez start from the pitlane, forcing him to fight from the back of the pack around the street circuit.
While Perez would manage to make progress through the field, he would only end up in P5, watching on as his teammate Max Verstappen claimed a second victory of the season.
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The issues Perez had with his car in Australia have spooked the Mexican, who is concerned about the risk of a repeat in Azerbaijan, a circuit that is unforgiving when drivers make mistakes.
“It obviously stays in the back of your mind,” Perez said.
“But you have to reset yourself and move on from that. I think there were many specific issues that we had, all that day.
“It was a horrible day that Saturday, FP3 and Quali, really bad.
“But I think we understood a lot of the problems that we had. It was not just a single problem that would be really easy just to get rid of.
“It was a combination of a few things that caused us to have these problems.
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“So hopefully, we don’t get to see that again. You don’t want to see that, especially here in Baku.”
Despite his fears, Perez did manage to have a risk free qualifying, finishing in P3, close behind his teammate and pole sitter Charles Leclerc.
With the new sprint race format, Perez has two shots at success this weekend, with the Mexican focused on capitalising on any mistakes those in front might make.