Sergio Perez Pinpoints What Led Him to Lose Championship Race Against Max Verstappen.
Max Verstappen has been absolutely supreme this season. With 13 wins in 16 races already, the Red Bull driver wreaked havoc. However, compared to him, Sergio Perez failed to match his teammate massively and now he revealed the point from where he began to lose the momentum, as per Motorsport.com.
The Mexican has shown poor form in 2023. Despite starting the year ahead of the Dutchman, he started to fall behind and there has been no comeback from there. This caused him to receive great criticism from experts and fans.
Although Pérez showed signs of improvement between races, it was not enough to prove he was the second best driver next to his teammate. That also happened after having the RB-19 dominate under him. Therefore, there are rumors that he will be replaced by Red Bull.
Perez reveals the start to finish as well as Verstappen’s assessment
While Verstappen has been dominating this season, this has been clearly noted by Perez, who he has worked with since 2021. Praising the Dutchman, the former Racing Point driver said the 26-year-old has done very well this year.
Along with that, he also shared about the weakness that caused him to gradually fall behind. On this subject, Perez said according to Motorsport.com: “The Spanish GP was the turning point in my season.”
To this, he added: “From that moment on, my weekends became more difficult. Then I started to catch up and since Barcelona I had more difficulties with the car. Sure enough, Perez finished the race in P11 at Circuit de Catalunya.
What will Perez do next after the huge disappointment?
Max Verstappen is just three points away from winning his third F1 title. As things stand, the Dutchman could win the title on Saturday. While Perez occupies the P2 position quite far in the driver rankings. This was evident even in the recently concluded Qatar Grand Prix qualifying, where Verstappen took pole and Perez finished in P13. Notably, Helmut Marko, the owner of Red Bull, was very critical of the Mexican player.
As things stand, Daniel Ricciardo is seen as a key replacement for Sergio Perez if things don’t work out for him at Red Bull. However, Christian Horner still fully supports his driver despite the not-so-smooth 2023 F1 season.
