by VALERIO BARRETTA
Verstappen “burns” Perez
Looking at the final ranking of the Drivers' World Championship, it seems impossible that Sergio Perez could have thought of undermining Max Verstappen. The 290 points gap between the two teammates highlights the great difference in performance and hides those first races in which even Checo he scored on three occasions (once in Jeddah and twice in Baku) against the Dutchman's two. After the weekend in Azerbaijan, Perez was only six points behind and could look forward to a season that would soon fall apart.
Verstappen's words
Verstappen, however, wanted to contextualize the results that went in favor of Perez at the beginning of the year: “We need to have a complete picture of the situation. In Saudi Arabia I started from 15th place, while in Baku I was slightly penalized by the Safety Car. So, from my point of view, it is not entirely correct to talk about a level playing field“, pointed out the Dutch CEO Auto Motor und Sport.
“From my point of view, this level of conditions did not exist: we were closer, but we must take into account all the circumstances that led to this result. Some elements weighed and influenced the outcome of the races“, he continued.
Three years of suffering
Super Max therefore leaves nothing to his teammate, not even in front of the journalists' microphones. After that Checo was decisive in the most important race of the Dutchman's career – Abu Dhabi 2021 – the two struggled to team up, and certainly Verstappen's superiority can only contribute to increasing Perez's frustration, almost never at the levels of the three-time world champion in the three-year period. If the Mexican does not come close to his teammate's performance even in 2024, Red Bull would not renew his contract at the end of the season, as stated by team principal Chris Horner.
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