Max Verstappen has always been standing out as the better Red Bull driver since day one. The likes of Daniel Ricciardo, Alex Albon, and Pierre Gasly have all been comprehensively outperformed by the Dutch driver. As Sergio Perez is the latest driver to continue this unwanted tradition, he recently opened up on the curse of being Verstappen’s teammate. Nevertheless, he also spoke about the good side of it as per Viaplay Netherlands.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner and chief advisor Helmut Marko have often emphasized how remarkable the two-time world champion is. They are of the opinion that beating Verstappen at this point in time is almost impossible.
While Horner appreciated Checo for staying closer to Verstappen than any other driver, Marko asked the Mexican driver to focus on his own race and forget about the world championship. Now, Perez has also come up to share the positives and negatives of being the 25-year-old’s teammate.
Perez on being Max Verstappen’s ally at Red Bull
Perez has recently spoken about how it feels being Verstappen’s teammate. On one hand, he labeled it as difficult. On the other hand, he applauded Verstappen for pushing himself and his teammates to the maximum.
Talking about this, he said, “It is very difficult of course to have Max as a teammate. But I don’t think we should take anything away from the talent that he is, how hard he works, how he delivers, how focused he is.”
Following this, he also added, “He is just a great driver, it’s great to have him as a teammate. He pushes to the maximum, it creates a lot of pressure. It’s not always easy to cope with that, a guy who is delivering 100% out of the car.”
Is there a bad blood between Verstappen and Perez?
The relationship between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez was believed to be great after the latter helped the former cut down his gap to Lewis Hamilton during the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. However, things changed after that.
During the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix, Verstappen’s unwillingness to help his teammate shocked a lot of fans and this was understood to be the event, which spoiled their supposed good relationship.
Nevertheless, Checo snubbed them all and said that they share a good and respectful partnership at Red Bull. They get on well, have an open relationship, and have fun on the team even during the ‘boring’ promotional events. All in all, their relationship is not as bad as fans deem it from the outside.
