Sergio Perez has had a disastrous run recently, as he failed to qualify for Q3 in each of his last five races. As a result of this poor form, he has fallen a whopping 99 points behind Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen. And as Perez continues to struggle, 2016 champion Nico Rosberg has explained how he sees a similarity between himself and the Mexican. The German believes that Perez is now taking on the same role he had several years ago when he was Lewis Hamilton’s teammate at Mercedes.
Having endured a tense spell at Mercedes, Rosberg will likely know much about teammate rivalries. Even though Perez may not have such a strained relationship with Verstappen, Rosberg believes this teammate rivalry could take a toll on the 34-year-old.
With Rosberg retiring immediately after he won the 2016 title against Hamilton, it will be interesting to see what the future holds for Perez. This is because there is a chance that the former Racing Point driver may not even be at Red Bull at the end of this season, with rumors emerging that Daniel Ricciardo may replace him if he delivers an impressive performance with AlphaTauri for the remainder of this season.
Nico Rosberg feels for Sergio Perez as he hails “phenomenal” Max Verstappen
While speaking in a recent interview with marca.com, Nico Rosberg gave his take on the teammate rivalry between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. He began his comments by praising the Dutchman as he said, “Verstappen is a phenomenal driver. For me, he is going to be at the level of the biggest names in history. Senna, Schumacher, Hamilton…he is going to be among the five or six best“.
The German then added that no one can deny Verstappen’s quality because of how far behind he has left all the drivers that have teamed up with him in the past. Rosberg believes that a similar scenario is also taking place with Perez, who he believes would find it “difficult” to “accept that the other is better.”
After highlighting the same, Rosberg concluded his remarks by stating that he could understand Perez’s current situation because he went through something similar when he was Lewis Hamilton’s teammate at Mercedes. However, all this struggle eventually paid off, as he won the title in 2016. Since Rosberg knows how to beat the best, an F1 expert has urged Perez to be more like the German.
F1 expert claims Sergio Perez has to stop playing “Mr. Nice Guy“
Formula 1 expert Anthony Davidson explained recently on the Sky Sports F1 podcast why Sergio Perez will not be able to achieve his ambitions if he continues to play the role of the “Mr. Nice Guy.” Davidson explained that Perez needs to take a leaf out of Nico Rosberg’s playbook by taking the fight to Max Verstappen even if it means that he behaves in a way that he himself is not comfortable with.
On similar lines, fellow Sky Sports F1 pundit Natalie Pinkham explained how the rivalry between Perez and Verstappen reminds her of the rivalry between Rosberg and Hamilton. Pinkham believes that Perez needs to find a weakness in Verstappen and exploit it, similar to how Rosberg did in the 2016 season against Hamilton.
Since both these rivalries are between the two teammates, many have often compared the two. Now it will be interesting to see if Perez can beat Verstappen in the upcoming seasons or if he will fail once again to defeat the Dutchman.
