Sergio Perez has had quite a difficult 2023 season, failing to keep up with the performance level of his teammate Max Verstappen. Despite being in the same cars, Perez has been nowhere near to Verstappen when compared and Dutch GP Qualifying was another testament to that, with Perez qualifying down in P7 behind the likes of Alex Albon and Fernando Alonso. Following the qualifying session where Verstappen took the pole position, Toto Wolff revealed that he could not comprehend the reason behind this major gap in performance level between the Red Bull drivers, as reported by PlanetF1.
Ahead of the Dutch GP weekend, Perez himself had admitted that it hasn’t been easy for him to watch his teammate dominate the grid while he has been nowhere near the top. The Red Bull duo arrived at Zandvoort with Perez having a 125-point deficit to Verstappen. With how the drivers performed during Qualifying, it doesn’t seem like Perez would be able to close down the points gap anytime soon.
Verstappen’s teammates suffering against him is absolutely not a new phenomenon. Before Perez stepped into the second Red Bull seat at the start of 2021, there had been a plethora of drivers who had seen their Red Bull career hopes go up in flames after being beaten comprehensively by Verstappen.
Toto Wolff tries to explain the Max Verstappen’s dominance
Following the Dutch GP Qualifying session, Toto Wolff spoke to the media regarding the current situation at Red Bull. As quoted by PlanetF1, Wolff found the huge gap between Verstappen and Perez to be “odd, bizarre.”
Wolff said, “Checo’s not an idiot. We have seen in all these years Checo is a grand prix winner, multiple grand prix winner, and he was at Racing Point, so I cannot comprehend [it].” However, the Mercedes team boss also admitted that Verstappen has had a habit of absolutely destroying his teammates and Perez might just be the newest victim.
Speaking about how Verstappen manages to do this, Wolff gave a pretty odd explanation. He said, “It’s his ability to create a car around himself, that is just very tricky to control but fast if you can, and that creates those gaps.”
Sergio Perez is going the extra mile to match Max Verstappen
Despite all of this, Perez is not one to give up easily. The Mexican understands that he has been absolutely no match for his counterpart and he has been taking every step possible to fix the situation.
While Max Verstappen spent his summer break enjoying with his girlfriend Kelly Piquet, Perez on the other hand, cut his vacation short and logged in extra hours at the Red Bull factory in an attempt to improve his form. It is evident that Perez has realized in order to beat someone like Verstappen, one has to go the extra mile and he is more than ready to do that.
