While Max Verstappen has absolutely dominated the 2023 F1 season so far, his teammate Sergio Perez has failed to make a mark. Despite both the drivers having the same RB19, yet the Mexican driver isn’t able to extract optimum performances. Regardless, Perez’s father, Antonio Perez Garibay, believes his son is the best, as per Dutch GP Blog.
As the former Racing Point driver recently pointed out his struggle with the RB-19, this was not taken well by Verstappen. He is of the opinion that both the drivers have the same car provided by the team.
Admittedly, the gap in their performances does the talking as Perez is 177 points adrift in the driver’s championship. Nevertheless, he has played an important part in helping his team win the Constructors’ championship in back-to-back seasons.
Papa Perez is full of his son’s praise
Perez’s father Antonio Perez has been full of his son’s appraisal following Red Bull’s Constructors’ championship win. Talking about this, he said to Esto.com as per the Dutch GP Blog, “Today Sergio Perez is the most solid driver in Formula 1. If you look at how many fans he has around the world, how many Mexican flags you see in Japan?”
“He is the only Latin American driver, add to that how many are his fans. Every brand in the world would be happy with a Checo Perez,” further asserted the Mexican man. Notably, the Red Bull star indeed delivered important points on odd days when Verstappen failed to perform.
The 33-year-old took pole positions and two wins when the Dutchman was in off-color. Nevertheless, none of them could actually make the Singapore GP any different as it remained as one bad day for Red Bull. According to Papa Perez, this was because they struggled with the setting of the new floor.
Perez and his Japanese GP performance
Sergio Perez did not have his best day at Suzuka during the 2023 Japanese Grand Prix. Rather he had a day to forget. After starting the race from P5, the Mexican star began to fall back after repeated contact with various drivers.
At first, it was with Lewis Hamilton, then it was with Carlos Sainz, with Fernando Alonso, and in the end, it was with Kevin Magnussen. Having made contact with all of the aforementioned drivers, Perez found himself with four penalty points.
All in all, Sergio Perez has played a very important part in helping his team grab the Constructors’ championship so early in the season. Even F1 expert Peter Windsor also believes the man from Mexico had an important role to play for his team in 2023.
