Max Verstappen continued his domination at the Belgian GP this past weekend as he won the race by finishing more than 20 seconds ahead of his teammate Sergio Perez. What was surprising about Verstappen’s performance was that he won the race by such a huge margin despite starting four places behind Perez. Hence, since many seemed amazed by the same, the difference in performance between Verstappen and Perez has come into question. With such questions arising, F1 expert Mark Hughes has thoroughly explained what helped the 25-year-old to pull off such a massive gap at the front.
Hughes gave his thoughts on the same after concerns emerged that Red Bull is perhaps favoring Verstappen. Many believe that the Milton Keynes-based outfit usually designs their cars to the suitability of Verstappen. This would mean that Verstappen and Perez from their own point of view, aren’t even driving the same ‘dominant’ car.
It is this reason why some people also tend to believe that Verstappen has the edge over everyone who has teamed up with him at Red Bull. With Perez seemingly facing the same fate that his predecessors faced alongside Verstappen, such concerns have arisen all over again.
Mark Hughes explained how Max Verstappen managed to outperform Sergio Perez
In the most recent episode of The Race F1 Podcast, Mark Hughes provided a comprehensive analysis of how Max Verstappen managed to beat Sergio Perez by 20+ seconds during the Belgian GP. He provided his remarks when he was asked to explain why Verstappen and Perez always start a season on a similar race pace, and that it is only the Dutchman’s speed that seems to get better over time.
“As you discover more about the car, you discover more opportunity. And someone of Max’s caliber is really able to exploit those probably more than Checo can. The other thing is psychological and I think this is perhaps a bigger influence in this case,” explained Hughes.
Hughes believes that the Guadalajara-born driver has suffered a huge impact psychologically because of how he saw his dream of winning the world championship fade away after the first four races. After those four races, Verstappen and Perez had two wins each, but since then, the former has shown unprecedented levels of dominance.
Hughes believes that this really impacted Perez’s confidence, and as a result, he has struggled massively in recent races. It seems that Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko also made a similar point when he explained how happy he was to see that Perez has accepted his fate, and that he no longer has his eyes on the title.
Marko hopes Perez to “focus” now after giving up on his championship dream
In a recent interview with motorsport-total (as quoted by crash.net), Helmut Marko explained how Sergio Perez‘s performances are likely to improve after the Mexican gave up on his dream of winning the title. The 80-year-old believes that the former Racing Point driver will now be able to “focus” better to deliver the best performance he can.
After stating the same, Marko explained how he does not expect Perez to beat Max Verstappen as the 25-year-old is in another league. Instead, all that Marko hopes is that the former McLaren driver can finish second in the Drivers’ Championship and help Red Bull retain the Constructors’ title.
Hence, since Perez can no longer fight for the title this season, it will be interesting to see if he can launch a fight next season when he should still be Verstappen’s teammate at Red Bull. Perez has a contract with the Austrian team that expires at the end of 2024 season, following which they will evaluate their options.
There is a possibility that if Perez were to impress next year as well, he could carry on with the team even beyond the 2024 season.
