Sergio Perez had a difficult 2023 season as he struggled massively to match Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen. Barring the first four races, out of which the Mexican won two, he was consistently way off the pace the Dutchman set. As a result, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has advised Perez to keep Verstappen “out of his mind” for bouncing back in 2024.
Appearing on the Eff Won podcast as quoted by Formule1.nl, Horner said, “Checo’s problem is that he keeps comparing himself to Max. What he needs to do is put Max out of his mind. Focus on yourself. Be the best version of yourself. As we saw earlier in the season, that is sufficient.”
Perez often does indeed criticize himself and focuses too much on his deficit to Verstappen. Since Perez is way too critical of himself, he finds it difficult to focus on his driving and makes mistakes often as a result.
In 2023, Perez expected to fight for the title after winning in Jeddah and Baku. However, post that glory, multiple qualifying eliminations, crashes, and mistakes engulfed his season.
As a result, his overall performance got a lot of criticism throughout the year. Moreover, since he only managed to score less than half of Verstappen’s points, it highlights the kind of poor season he has had.
Is Sergio Perez performing better than Max Verstappen’s previous teammates?
Christian Horner also mentioned on the podcast that Sergio Perez has done extremely well over his three years at Red Bull. The British team principal made these remarks even though Perez has played second fiddle most of the time to Verstappen.
The six-time F1 winner rarely challenged Verstappen over the course of the entire 2023 season. Despite the same, Perez has lasted longer than any of Verstappen’s previous teammates.
Previously, Red Bull sacked Pierre Gasly in just half a season in 2019 owing to his struggles. Alex Albon suffered a similar fate as he stayed with the Austrian team for just one and a half seasons. Albon even compared his stint to his replacement Perez and mentioned how unfair it was.
According to Marca, Albon recently stated on the High-Performance Podcast how he was closer on pace to Verstappen. However, because Red Bull were slower in 2020, it gave him worse results relative to Perez in 2021.
Albon said, “The gap between Max and Checo, in most cases, was bigger than when I was Max’s teammate. On reflection, I was better than Max’s two previous teammates, or the teammate he currently has and the teammate he had before me (Gasly).”
In 2023, Perez received a lot of backing from the Red Bull bosses. Horner has been consistently saying positive things about Perez to help the Mexican improve his form. Despite this, there are speculations that the Milton Keynes team may run out of patience if the man from Guadalajara doesn’t improve in 2024.
With Daniel Ricciardo lurking in the wings as a potential replacement, Perez needs to pull up his socks. A better 2024 season is crucial for the 33-year-old to not lose his Red Bull seat either midway or at the end of next year.
