Alex Albon takes a jibe at Sergio Perez, insists the gap was smaller when he was Max Verstappen’s teammate

Sergio Perez has failed to match Max Verstappen since joining Red Bull.

Alex Albon takes a jibe at Sergio Perez, insists the gap was smaller when he was Max Verstappen’s teammate

Alex Albon, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez (Via IMAGO)

Max Verstappen since joining Red Bull has had quite a few F1 teammates. But none have been able to match him and thus, have had to swallow the painful pill of getting axed from the Austrian team. Alex Albon who was Verstappen’s teammate for a small stint, feels that the gap that he had to him was way smaller than what Sergio Perez has had so far.

Perez joined the Red Bull F1 team in 2021 but despite this, has not been able to match Max Verstappen in any way. Be it over one lap pace or race trim, Verstappen has always had the upper hand on him. Considering this, Albon feels his stint against Verstappen was better.

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Albon recently talked about a plethora of things on a podcast and it was at that moment when he compared his 2020 Red Bull stint with Perez’s current one. He pointed out that when he was at Red Bull he was closer to Verstappen during qualifying when the team had third or fourth fastest cars. He highlighted how Perez is now struggling to do the same and having gaps much bigger than what he had. Albon used the example of the 2021 F1 season to back his argument.

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Max was qualifying third or fourth, finishes races generally third or fourth. So then, I would be maybe three, four tenth off him is some races, that would put me 12th or 11th and that was disastrous. But the year after, the car was first or second in almost every race, Lewis and Max were fighting for the title, and Checo was fourth, or third, or fifth. But the gap between Max was actually, in most cases, bigger than it was when I was Max's teammate.

Sergio Perez’s Red Bull deal is coming to an end in 2024

While Alex Albon has made it known that his stint against Max Verstappen was better than Sergio Perez’s current one, the latter was under a lot of pressure during the recently concluded 2023 F1 season. Moreover, there is a strong belief in the F1 paddock that Perrz in most likelihood, will lose his seat at the end of 2024.

Sergio Perez (Credits: Sportsrush)
Sergio Perez (Credits: Sportsrush)

Perez since joining Red Bull has never really been able to pose a challenge against the reigning world champion. Season after season, he has had a massive struggle and this is one of the reasons why he is often seen driving for the team under a truckload of pressure.

Next year’s F1 campaign holds a lot of significance for Sergio Perez as if he is not able to deliver as per Red Bull’s expectations, they will not think twice before showing him the exit door. Perez’s 2024 exploits will be a fascinating watch for quite a plethora of reasons.

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