“He could never even try a different strategy” – Former F1 driver discusses the benefit to Max Verstappen for having Sergio Perez as Red Bull partner this season.
Max Verstappen will have a third partner at Red Bull this season, after Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon. Sergio Perez has made the move from the Silverstone of Racing Point/Aston Martin to Milton Keynes.
Keeping up with Checo 😍 Wrapping up his first drive with the Team 👊 #ChargeOn 🤘 pic.twitter.com/e55eh3Si7e
— Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) February 23, 2021
Former F1 driver Giedo van der Garde, as per Motorsport.com, believes this is a brilliant move for Max Verstappen. Albon played second fiddle to Verstappen throughout last season, not allowing Red Bull to provide genuine competition to Mercedes. But now with Perez on board, this could look much tighter at the pinnacle of the standings.
“Max is, of course, a winner and one of the best drivers on the grid. But Perez is not very inferior to him – some, but not much. I think there will be a gap between them now and then in qualifying, but Perez is especially strong in the race.
“He is good at managing tyres, strategically strong, and always fast on Sundays. I think he can play an important role on those days. I also do not rule out the possibility he will sometimes be very close to Max in the races. But that’s a good thing because that’s how you push a team to a higher level.
“In addition, Max can only learn and improve from strong mutual competition. He will no doubt see things with Perez that may be of interest to him. All in all, the arrival of Perez is a huge plus for the team.”
“Max has had to do everything on his own in recent years. He could never even try a different strategy. That is possible with Perez now.
