“A magician”– Mark Webber singles out this quality in new Red Bull driver Sergio Perez

“A magician”– Mark Webber claims that Sergio Perez is going to be successful with Red Bull and singles out his one quality.

Sergio Perez could have excuses for a poor debut with Red Bull in Bahrain, as he started from the pit lane, which is even worse than staring from P20 on the grid.

However, he achieved a P5 by the end of the race, keeping Mercedes at their toes ahead of the next race in Imola. After his spectacular recovery, he received massive praises, including Mark Webber, who believes Perez is a Red Bull worthy driver.

“I think he’s gonna do well,” Webber stated ‘On The Marbles podcast‘. “I think that he’s in a bit of a win, win situation. He is clearly there to do the best support role he can for Max.”

“And I think he’ll do better than the previous two guys that tried to be Max’s teammates, which is obviously Pierre [Gasly] and [Alexander] Albon.”

“He is tremendously experienced and a magician with the tyres. He’s very, very handy, he knows how to bring a car home and get good podiums, and he’s done that in subpar machinery.”

“When this Red Bull fires, if this car is half sensible and we believe it looks pretty handy, there’s a great chance that he will have a solid season.”

Max Verstappen is not alone anymore.

Ever since Daniel Ricciardo left Red Bull, Verstappen often found himself alone in the quest against Mercedes, as Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon failed to found their feet in the team, but Webber thinks with Perez, it wouldn’t be the same case.

“He’s got to be there and put pressure on Merc around pitstops, for example, because if there is only one dog in the fight, it’s harder to put heat on Mercedes as Red Bull would like to do,” Webber added.

“That’s what Perez has to be there for, around those first stops or second stops, so they can put Merc under some pressure and use Max in different ways. When Max is on his own, it’s not nice.”

“He’s on the home stretch of his career, but brilliantly timed from Red Bull to get someone that is just going to tick those boxes and get some big points for the team and go for the constructors’ world championship.”

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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