Max Verstappen is no stranger to the role of the villain in F1. Additionally, his exceptional dominance is not helping his case. While numerous haters are out there, Verstappen finds himself in the bad books of an entire country with a population of 126,700,000. With Sergio Perez as his teammate, it is no surprise that the country is Mexico.
Verstappen’s reputation with the Mexican crowd has taken a hit due to his rivalry with Perez at Red Bull. While the Mexican GP is usually filled with the roars of crowds cheering their home hero and their teammate, there could be some boos thrown around this season.
A reminder that max verstappen owns Mexico pic.twitter.com/NVTYKhqjcN
— Joshua33 (@joshua_mv33) January 24, 2023
F1 Mechanic and homegrown Mexican, Jo Ramirez voices the opinion of his countrymen, revealing that in the last few months, Mexico has developed a sour taste for Dutch dominance.
Mexico and Max Verstappen have bad blood
Unraveling the nuances of the Red Bull team dynamics, Verstappen has been causing ripples of controversy in the media since his clas with Perez in Brazil last season. Despite Perez’s efforts to match Verstappen’s prowess on the track, the driver has fallen behind while Verstappen is soaking in all the glory.
In the wake of these developments, Verstappen is unwittingly crowned as Mexico’s public enemy number one. As quoted by Soy Motor, Ramirez explained that the discrepancy between Perez and Verstappen has fuelled this perception.
After going off at Turn 5, Checo is back in the garage.
The Team are working hard on getting the car back to the garage to assess damage and get him back on track asap. pic.twitter.com/tMj4ROfPlG
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) July 21, 2023
“I’m sorry for Sergio because we’ve seen him very close to Max’s level in the last races… Max didn’t care where to qualify, since he knows he’s going to win the race, it’s still incredible. He is Mexico’s number one enemy.”
However, Ramirez, personally, holds Verstappen in high regard. “Max always reminds me of Ayrton Senna, I think he is capable of doing things that in my time only he could do. It’s great to have on the current grid pilots capable of setting up performances that are out of the ordinary.”
Verstappen calls out Perez’s dismal performance
While the dynamics within Red Bull look okay from the outside, cracks are forming in this facade. With Checo’s seat under imminent threat, Verstappen doubled down on criticizing his teammate after his bleak outing at the British GP.
“I don’t know why things went wrong today, but of course, with our car, you have to get into Q3,” Verstappen stated. Confident in his abilities, he set the bar high for Perez.
Verstappen stated he could single-handedly win the constructor’s championship if Perez isn’t up for the challenge. Ironically, Verstappen’s points are enough to give Red Bull the comfortable lead they need to spearhead the team’s title chances. “We are also fighting for the team championship. At the moment, I think I can do it alone.”
The saga, thus, continues. Fraught with tension, all eyes are on Red Bull. Like a speeding car, something might just go horribly wrong for Perez, as things are likely to crash and burn.
