Sergio Perez has come under increasing pressure recently due to his failure to match Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen. Even though the two are driving the same car, the Mexican is yet a whopping 115 points behind the Dutchman at the halfway point of the campaign. Consequently, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko suggested the 33-year-old (as quoted by planetf1.com) to “wake up” and stop dreaming about winning the championship. However, it seems that Perez has no room for such negativity.
The former Racing point driver is adamant that he can still beat Verstappen and that he is not in F1 to finish second. However, the Red Bull team does not seem to have enough confidence in Perez. The Milton Keynes outfit believes that Verstappen is in a league of his own and that it is time that Perez does not compare himself to the 25-year-old.
Sergio Perez makes his ambitions clear amid constant criticism
While speaking in a recent interview, Sergio Perez made it clear that he was targeting “victories” when the second half of the 2023 season resumes in late August. After stating the same, he made it clear that he was not competing in F1 to play second fiddle to Max Verstappen.
Perez told nextgen-auto.com, “It’s not to finish 2nd that I’m here, I’d rather be at home doing something else if I was only aiming for that. I’m here because I know I can do it and I’ve done it before “.
The Mexican then went on to add that at times people do not understand what the drivers go through. The 33-year-old gave the example of Daniel Ricciardo and explained how the Australian too had his struggles at McLaren before returning to the grid with AlphaTauri this year.
However, even though Perez is keen on fighting for victories in the second half of the 2023 season, it does seem that fighting for the title this year does seem out of his hand, as Helmut Marko pointed out. Moreover, it is not just the 80-year-old who gave his comments on the same but also Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.
Horner agrees with Marko over Perez’s assessment
Similarly to Helmut Marko, Christian Horner too admitted (as quoted by planetf1.com) that fighting for the title this season is likely to be beyond Sergio Perez’s reach until and unless Max Verstappen faces a real “disaster” this year. The Red Bull team principal then added that the Mexican must focus on his own races now and forget about the championship.
The 49-year-old made it clear that Perez’s goal for the rest of the 2023 season should be to finish second in the championship and not lose any more ground to his rivals behind. Only once Perez has accomplished the same does Horner believe that the 33-year-old could think about winning races this year.
However, considering that Perez is adamant that he can return back to his best, it will be interesting to see how the second half of the 2023 campaign pans out. It is also pertinent to note that if Perez can manage to win a few races from this point onwards, it will also go a long way in his pursuit of securing the second Red Bull seat beyond the 2025 season, having been confirmed for next year as well.
