Red Bull Racing have had an exceptional start to the 2023 season as they have won all six races that have taken place. Reigning Drivers’ Champion Max Verstappen has won four of them while his teammate Sergio Perez has won the other two.
Considering the dominant start that Red Bull has had this season, it seems most likely that the fight for the Drivers’ Championship this year will be between Verstappen and Perez. Even though Perez is Verstappen’s main competitor, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has claimed that the Dutchman has never seen the Mexican as a real ‘threat‘.
While speaking to oe24 ahead of the Spanish GP this weekend, Helmut Marko said, “In truth, Max never saw any serious danger in Perez“. Since these remarks are coming from a senior Red Bull official, it seems clear who the team believes is the more dominant driver of the two. As a result, Perez will have it all to do this season if he wants to prove that he can indeed take the fight to Verstappen.
Max Verstappen leads Sergio Perez by 39 points in the championship
After the first six races of the 2023 season, Max Verstappen has scored 144 points and already has a 39 points advantage over Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez (105). The Mexican suffered a huge blow in the title fight last weekend after he failed to score any points in the Monaco Grand Prix following a disastrous qualifying performance.
As a result of Perez crashing out during qualifying, he started the main race last and only managed to finish 16th. In stark contrast, Verstappen had an utterly dominant weekend as he not only claimed the pole position but controlled the race brilliantly to win his fourth race of the season.
Red Bull has often been accused of favoring Verstappen over Perez
While Max Verstappen is undoubtedly an exceptional driver, Red Bull has also often been slammed for favoring the Dutchman over Sergio Perez. For example, famous Sky Sports F1 reporter Anthony Davidson shockingly claimed that Red Bull left Perez to drive a ‘blind‘ race at this year’s Miami GP.
As quoted by planetf1.com, Davidson said, “It’s been really strange listening to Perez’s radio. They haven’t told him anything about this fight between himself and Max Verstappen. Whereas, on Verstappen’s side of the garage, it’s been constant“. Davidson then concluded his remarks by adding, “Perez has been out there, in a way, driving blind“.
And that is not it, as Red Bull has also seemingly taken limited action against Verstappen when he voiced his frustration on the team radio. The same was evident at last year’s Brazilian GP. Red Bull had issued a team order to Verstappen to allow Perez to go through since the Mexican was in a close battle with Charles Leclerc for second in the championship.
However, much to everyone’s surprise, the Dutchman not only refused the team order but instead made it seem that he was taking revenge for another incident that had happened previously in the campaign.
Verstappen told his team on the radio, “I told you already last time, you guys don’t ask that again to me, okay? Are we clear about that? I gave my reasons and I stand by it“. In reply, a furious Perez said, “It shows who he really is“.
In the same radio message, Perez also explained how ungrateful he felt Verstappen was “after everything he had done” for him. The Mexican played a critical role in the 2021 season when the Dutchman won his maiden championship.
Can Sergio Perez challenge Max Verstappen for the title this year?
2023 is the first season when Sergio Perez seems to be in a real position to fight for the world championship. The Mexican has had his best start to a season ever since he moved to Red Bull at the beginning of the 2021 season. However, even his best so far has not been good enough to match Max Verstappen.
The Dutchman has been in an entirely different league as the lowest he has finished this season is second. And his star-studded qualities have also been closely tracked by Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko, who went to the extent of comparing him to legendary Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna.
While speaking in the same interview with oe24, Marko said, “I compared Max to Senna a few years ago and was smiled at. The know-it-alls from back then are slowly running out of arguments“. He then ended his remarks by stating that “Max is the best in all conditions“.
