Painful delay
Sergio Pérez started this season promisingly, but he soon fell further and further behind teammate Max Verstappen. The Mexican now accepts that there is a big difference between the two.
In the first four races of the year, Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez alternated victories, but then Verstappen disappeared on the horizon. Pérez sees his teammate almost certainly becoming world champion this weekend, with five races to go. Pérez’s task is to keep Lewis Hamilton behind him and finish the championship in second place this year. The bitter reality of the difference in level between him and Verstappen has now sunk in, as is evident from his words opposite The Telegraph.
“Max has done a great job this season. I think he’s at a different level than anyone else,” said the 33-year-old. Not that he is bitter about it: “I have a lot of appreciation for that.” It was clear to everyone that Pérez suddenly lost control quite early in the season. According to him, this did not happen in Miami, where Pérez started from pole and was then run over by Verstappen, who won the race from P9. According to him, things only really went wrong two races later: “I have the feeling that since Barcelona I started to struggle and had some trouble with the car.”
In Japan, Pérez already stated that his struggles have gone quite deep this year. Then he also said that things started going wrong from Miami onwards. ‘Checo’ then hired a mental coach to keep his head cool. It is now hoped that he can maintain second place in the championship. Not only for himself, but also for the team. Red Bull has never been at the top with both drivers at the end of the year. Last year Pérez missed out on second place in the championship in the last race. Then Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc was too fast for him.
Today the race weekend in Qatar starts, in which Max Verstappen can take his third title. You can read more about what’s on the program here.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl