Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly are two names who are well-known for racing alongside Max Verstappen. While Gasly began to operate with Verstappen after Daniel Ricciardo left Red Bull, Albon came into the scene right after Gasly was demoted to Toro Rosso [currently AlphaTauri.]
Since they were teammates with Verstappen, both Gasly and Albon know how difficult it is to match the three-time world champion. They also agreed upon how Verstappen has a say on the team dynamics and because of this, they support Perez as he struggles at Red Bull.
The former Red Bull duo had words of encouragement for Perez. Gasly said on this, as per GP Blog, “[It is] never easy to go against probably the best driver at the moment in combination with the best team and a team that is fully around him. So obviously a tough job.”
Whereas, Albon stated, “I think it’s always tough. I think it’s tough to go against one of the quickest, one of the best drivers on the grid and call it a generational talent to some extent. So it wasn’t easy my year. I’m sure it wasn’t easy for Pierre in his year. I think he [Perez] is handling it quite well, at least from what I see,”
Is Sergio Perez in trouble with his 2024 F1 seat?
Despite starting the year off with brilliance, Sergio Perez fell off drastically. The Mexican driver was at par with Max Verstappen till the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. However, Miami onwards, he entered a slump that he hasn’t fully gotten out of yet.
As the former Racing Point driver began to fall behind, drivers like Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton closed in on him in the championship standings. This put Red Bull at the risk of losing their first-ever chance to finish the season with 1-2 in the standings.
Therefore, it created a rumor that the team is ready to sack him if Perez fails to keep his place. Reportedly, the Austrian team gave an ultimatum to the 33-year-old driver. There were also talks about how Red Bull can promote either Yuki Tsunoda or Daniel Ricciardo to race alongside Verstappen next season.
Nevertheless, team principal Christian Horner snubbed all the claims and clarified that they would have the Mexican driver in the team no matter what the result is. Even if the team loses their first-ever chance to finish 1-2 in the standings.
