Sergio Perez ‘should just keep his mouth shut and get on with’ being Max Verstappen’s wingman, urges former Ferrari F1 manager

The former Williams team manager has scrutinized the Mexican following the Australian GP

Sergio Perez ‘should just keep his mouth shut and get on with’ being Max Verstappen’s wingman, urges former Ferrari F1 manager

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez (Credits: Racefans)

Peter Windsor, Formula One pundit, has condemned Sergio Perez for his behavior following his win at Jeddah. This comes after, despite winning the race, controversy arose regarding the fastest lap sparking tension among the team. Perez insisted that he is a challenger for Max Verstappen’s title and deserves the same treatment the Dutchman is subject to regarding priority.

The Mexican was clearly confused and discontent with the team, allowing Max Verstappen to snatch the fastest lap at the very end, allowing him to take the lead in the Driver’s Championship. Tension in the cool-down room following the race reflected this as well. Perez has also publicly demanded that Verstappen, along with himself, abide by the team’s orders throughout the season, allowing them to fight amicably for the title. He intends to push the Flying Dutchman to his limit and doesn’t intend on being just his wingman, as he was in previous years.

YouTube video

Speaking through his YouTube channel, Windsor said, “I’m absolutely shocked that after that race he started saying, ‘I’m in the running for the World Championship, I need to get the same treatment as Max’. I think Red Bull are surprised by that because they imagined he would be just this guy who is very, very quick, very polished in a lot of areas, not as quick as Max overall obviously, who’d be quite happy to be in the second-best car in Formula 1 at this stage of his career and would just keep his mouth shut and get on with it.” He went on the point out the oddity of Perez’s attitude.

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He drew a parallel with the cases of Felipe Massa and Rubens Barrichello, where Sergio Perez believes that life would be better if he were number one. Windsor rubbished this mentality and strongly criticized the Mexican’s mistakes through free practice and qualifying at Albert Park. He believes he should be in no position to make demands and thinks Perez should be happy to be the second fastest on the grid at this stage of his career.

Related: Did Max Verstappen almost join Mercedes?

Sergio Perez can emerge as a title challenger

Sergio Perez via News 18
Sergio Perez via News 18

Despite Windsor’s remarks, Perez will no doubt be sticking to his mentality where he is a title contender this season. With the RB19 being superior to the rest, the only real competition he faces is his teammate Verstappen, the current world champion. The pair have had a few incidents on track with respect to strategy, with Verstappen being favored. Perez hopes his consistent performances will change this and the team will view both drivers objectively and allow them to fight for the title without hindrances.

Perez finished second in Bahrain and won at Saudi Arabia, and only stood a point behind his rival Verstappen at that point in time. Albert Park was not kind to the Mexican, as he struggled throughout FP3, and also crashed in Q1, failing to even set a time. Despite starting P20, he fought back admirably, as we’ve seen him do on multiple occasions to take a strong P5 in a chaotic race. This is a testament to his resolve and cements his intentions to establish himself as a candidate to be a world champion.

Sergio Perez now stands at 54 points, just 15 behind leader Max Verstappen. This has seen to be his best start to a season in his career, and he seems intent on showing that he is more than a supporting driver. Instances such as that which occurred between the pair in Brazil in 2022, similar to the Multi 2-1 controversy between Vettel and Webber, are bound to occur with Perez gunning for Verstappen’s crown. How Red Bull will deal with this is unclear. They could either permit the two to fight it out on track, which poses a risk, or they could deal with it internally. Nonetheless, this is an exciting saga and has many potential outcomes.

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