F1 24, the sport’s official videogame releases later this month, and drivers recently promoted it via a segment on F1’s official YouTube channel. They were asked to guess their teammates’ ratings, and it caused some big surprises. Max Verstappen, in particular, was left finishing for words when Sergio Perez was bang on with his predictions.
A driver’s experience, race craft, awareness, and pace are determined before giving them an overall score in the game. When asked to guess Verstappen’s race craft, Perez replied with 98. And he was absolutely correct. Verstappen was shocked because he didn’t expect a near-perfect rating in that category.
Perez, however, expected Verstappen to get a 98. “I mean, you didn’t have any DNF!” the Mexican said.
The F1 24 driver ratings are here pic.twitter.com/HBdyNmQpSl
— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) May 28, 2024
Verstappen got a 96 overall and is the highest-rated driver in the game. Much of it is down to his dominant 2023 season, in which he won 19 out of 22 races, and secured his third World Championship.
Meanwhile, when it came to guessing Perez’s rating, Verstappen faltered. He expected the Guadalajara-born driver to have an overall in the 90s. But when he saw that it was just 87, he was baffled. “How does that make sense?” he said.
To be fair to Verstappen, no one other than Perez got their answers right. It shows that he rates his teammate highly, and accurately so. Learning from him on the track will also be something Perez will look to do, as he fights to save his Red Bull future.
Sergio Perez hopes to learn from the Max Verstappen
Given the ratings are based on real-world performances, Verstappen’s higher rating compared to Perez makes a lot of sense. In 2023, he dominated not just Perez, but the entire F1 grid, capping off one of the most one-sided seasons of all time.
Perez remains hopeful of picking up a few things from his teammate. Quoted by Crash.net, he claimed that there was “no harm in looking at what he’s (Verstappen) doing.”
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However, the learning curve went in the wrong direction for Perez. He was second in the Championship at this stage last season. But two back to back woeful performances have put him down to P5, with 107 points in eight races. On the other hand, Verstappen remains in the lead, thanks to his five race wins.
