Sergio Perez is having to reach a "new level" to meet the requirements of racing in a "very different world" at Red Bull.
The Mexican has been growing into his new seat alongside Max Verstappen and thus has become a key part of helping the Dutchman in his fight for the Formula 1 championship.
Perez's improvement has also put him in position to claim victory in Baku, along with another podium at the French Grand Prix, but he admits settling in at Red Bull has been trickier than expected.
“I am more focused, on my side, on trying to get fully comfortable with things, fully up to speed with driving the car,” he said in Austria on Thursday.
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“I am happy with my progression so far, with the level that I am delivering at but obviously, it’s not enough and I want more than that.
“It was just a very different world to what I was used to and I think the fact that I moved teams… there are probably teams out there that are similar to others but I went to another extreme.
“I think that made it a bit harder. I am getting there, I think every single weekend we see good improvement. I see no reason why I can’t get any better in the next five races, for example, to do another step.”
When Red Bull snapped up Perez after he was dropped to make way for Sebastian Vettel at Aston Martin, many saw it as his first real big chance to prove he can fight at the front in F1.
And now that he is, Checo admits the expectations are much higher than what he's experienced before.
“It's obviously a great boost of motivation throughout the season to come to a race and you know that if you deliver to your maximum, you can end up winning a race,” he said via Formula1.com.
“Also, the pressure is on, you know you have to deliver to a very high level. You are competing against the very, very best drivers. Against a very top team like Mercedes.
“So the level of delivering, it's to a new level. Every single point and the way the team works, trying to maximise every single performance point is very important. You are into the next level.”
Perez has also had to prove he can race with the very best on the grid, and offered an insight into doing so.
“The race I had with [Lewis] Hamilton, literally against him in Baku, I was fortunate enough to see how good he is,” he said.
"The way he pushes you at the time that he does push you, and then when he saves his tyres, he’s obviously a very, very intelligent guy.
"And the same to Max, you know. Racing these drivers at this level definitely takes you to a new level.
“I think we all know in this business how good Max is,” Perez added. “He delivers at an extremely high level from FP1.”
