“Perez is starting to become a little bit of a thorn in the side” : Johnny Herbert gives his take on Sergio Perez thrusting himself into the contention for the world title
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Sergio Perez(on the left) and Max Verstappen(on the right)
Former F1 driver Johnny Herbert is enthralled by the Red Bull fight, believing Sergio Perez is dragging himself into championship contention. Perez has emerged as one of F1’s big candidates for victory in 2022, having discovered shape with the proposed rules and cars presented over the winter.
During their first season as Red Bull teammates in 2021, Perez was very seldom a fit for Max Verstappen, but he was priceless as a tail gunner for Verstappen’s championship fight with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGIEHOrC0fY
However, with the introduction of groundbreaking new cars in the 2022 rule base, Perez has stepped up his game. He took pole position in Jeddah and prompted compellingly until an untimely Safety Car trashed his race. Perez also battled for triumph in Spain, but fell short to Verstappen after a team order prevented him from operating his tactic to its full potential. But Perez was invincible in Monaco, leading Red Bull’s charge all weekend and winning convincingly in front of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
Johnny Herbert is intrigued about the dynamics shared between Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen
“I think he’s getting closer and I say it’s getting closer because I think he’s settling into the team brilliantly. He did a wonderful job, as we saw, in Monaco. He seems to be maturing brilliantly. [Both] Sergio himself [and] more importantly for the team as well with the Constructors’ Championship being such an important part of Formula 1,” said Herbert regarding Perez’s performance in an interview ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Herbert is interested to see how this interplay plays out over the rest of the season, especially in Azerbaijan, where the Red Bull drivers were first and second in dominating fashion until Verstappen’s tyre malfunction in 2021.
“[Perez is] starting to become a little bit of a thorn in the side, maybe, for Max Verstappen. That would be really interesting to see how that dynamic works at the same time. We’ve got some brilliant stuff coming our way because those two Red Bull drivers really get it together when we get to Azerbaijan and who knows who will come out of it on top,” concluded Herbert.
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Rishika Saha
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