Sergio Perez has recently referred to Max Verstappen as “a good loser.” The Mexican, who managed to fend off the Dutchman to settle for P2 twice this year, has declared this amid the battle for the world championship.
Speaking at the Pardon My Take talk show, the 33-year-old stated that Verstappen is “a good loser.” The two-time world champion, however, has the fame of a “bad loser“, which the former Racing Point driver doesn’t believe to be true.
Further emphasizing this, Perez conveyed that whenever he beats his teammate, Verstappen congratulates him and says “Well done.” This is something the Mexican doesn’t always find in F1 and is certainly not common among drivers, feels the Red Bull star.
The former Force India pilot went on to add, “He really comes and says “well done, mate’ and you can see he feels it and I appreciate that.” All in all, Perez wanted to bring out the sportsmanship spirit in Verstappen.
The Mexican on his recent loss to Max Verstappen
The Dutchman might be “a good loser” but that doesn’t mean he loses often. Fending off the Dutchman in his mighty RB-19 is an uphill task, and it’s not always possible.
As the 33-year-old driver failed to match the defending champion’s superior speed at the 2023 Miami GP, he thought he had some explaining to do. Talking to the media after the race, Perez said that the tire strategy jeopardized the race for him.
Speaking on this, Checo said that his choice of medium was a weak tire as compared to his teammate’s hard. Furthermore, Perez ended up boxing earlier than he wished to as he was pushed by his teammate, who had the much faster hard compound tyres in his first stint.
Perez seeing his world championship chance evaporates
The faulty strategy by his team set Sergio Perez in the back foot after he failed to hold off Max Verstappen from winning the 2023 Miami Grand Prix. With this win, the Hasselt-born picked up his third win of the season.
Apart from one more win, he also took an extra championship point for the fastest lap of the race. As a result, Perez now finds himself 14 points behind his 25-year-old teammate. With this, the championship chances slowly seem to evaporate.
All in all, what could have been a historic race for Checo has been reduced to a day when Verstappen shone brightly.
