Max Verstappen reckons title fight with Sergio Perez got close only because the initial circuits ‘do not suit’ him
Max Verstappen claimed Sergio Perez's title hopes cropped up only because the initial circuits did not favor him.
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Max Verstappen (Via IMAGO)
The 2023 season can safely be touted as the year the Red Bulls bested every one of their rivals on the F1 grid due to the sheet pace of their ‘rocketship’ RB-19 and the talent of their drivers. While Max Verstappen has been hailed as one of the greatest drivers with generational talent, his teammate Sergio Perez has also managed to impress the fans so far during his stint at the Austrian team since 2021. He played a key role in getting Verstappen his debut World Championship by valiantly defending against a charging Lewis Hamilton at the ’21 Abu Dhabi grand finale.
And in 2023, Sergio Perez was thought to be the only racer who stood a chance of beating Max Verstappen to the World Championship claim since they have the same Red Bull car. In fact, after the first few races, Perez did indeed manage to shorten the points gap between them to a few points going into the Miami Grand Prix. The Mexican secured a couple of wins over Verstappen at the street circuits of Baku and Jeddah earning himself the title of the ‘street race king’.
But after Miami, Max Verstappen managed to completely demolish whatever hopes Perez was harboring of winning the World Championship. The Dutchman won 10 races in a row starting from the Miami GP up until his streak was cut short by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz who delivered a thundering performance to win the Singapore GP. And in the end, Max won the 2023 title over Perez by a huge margin of Championship points. He even claimed Perez was never going to win the title and was only close to him in the rankings initially because the circuits where Perez won ‘did not suit’ him.
At the beginning of the season, we never have the tracks that suit me. Those circuits only come later in the year.Max Verstappen claimed, as per Motorsport.com.
Sergio Perez claims he is vying for the World Championship in 2024
Slated to star as a Red Bull driver in the 2024 season due to his contract extension, Sergio Perez is currently busy focusing on his performance next year. The Mexican had equal number of Grand Prix wins as his mighty teammate Max Verstappen after the first four Grands Prix in 2023. And now he wants to take that as motivation to try and topple Verstappen’s lead in the Championship Standings in the new season.
I already finished second and my main interest is to do one better. I'm aware of the challenge it is. We are going to take this winter time to try to start the season on a high and be able to maintain that level of consistency throughout the season.
With promising drivers like Daniel Ricciardo, Yuki Tsunoda, and Liam Lawson all waiting in the sidelines for Perez’s seat, it is no surprise that the Mexican has to work hard to prove his worth as an RBR driver. The team has a bad reputation of uprooting racers from their teams mid-season if they are not impressed with the results. So far, Perez has done a stellar job at holding on to his Red Bull seat but he needs to perform better next year to close the gap between him and Max Verstappen.
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Riddhi Mondal
(1821 Articles Published)