TBH Perez looks a bit disinterested. That car wasn't as dominant over the bumps and style of circuit yesterday but verstappen could pull and maintain a certain gap over both hamilton and alonso (who both also had issues) I felt the virtual safety car say Verstappen pull 2 second out and then hand back 1.2 seconds just in case he got dinged. He then pulled 5 seconds or so and stuck there. Perez by contrast fell off the back of the ferraris when on hard tyres following medium which looked very ragged by they time they came in. There was a safety car to clsoe it up and he again fell off them They all pitted and perez went on mediums and again fell off the back of the ferraris. I can't beleive this si down to a) something about red bull v a ferrari thats not that good b) perez being shafted by red bull. I honestly think he's just not giving whats needed here. Mentally or whatever he should be at least at the point of wanting podium after podium.
If he isn’t careful there will be loud calls for Daniel Ricciardo to have an opportunity for 2024. I know Marko has been saying that Perez is faster on the sim but if he keeps missing out fighting for podiums with a car that’s dominating in the hands of his team mate then his position will be less certain. Do you think Horner would be brave enough to offer Lando Norris a deal next to Max? Would Max have any issue with that?
Well... When the team hold him off from going for a fastest lap while also telling Max to go for it, it's pretty obvious who they are backing. But... That's also not unsurprising, it makes total sense for the team to put everything behind Max as he's clearly the faster driver and the one who will deliver another title. If Checo wants to fight for a title, he's going to have to up his game a lot and make his own decisions at times.
I think people underestimate the gulf between a good midfielder and someone like Max. If we run through Perez's career Equal to Kobayashi Lost to Button Equal/Slightly better than Hulk Equal/Slightly better than a rookie Ocon Better than Stroll I don't think getting dominated by Verstappen is a dramatic loss of form. It's just his level and it's the races like Baku that are the outliers. Similarly I don't think we should be fooled by the idea that Gasly or Albon are suddenly much better drivers than Perez. The only driver i would tip to do better that isn't already in a top team is Norris.
This is the one move I wouldn’t make if I were Lando. RedBull would be bringing him with the desire that he ends up closer, but not ahead of Max, or even close enough to rock the boat. He needs to go somewhere where the team either needs him and/or is open to him becoming the number one or pushing the incumbent driver to greater heights. Unfortunately whilst you can argue that Lando might improve Ferrari or Merc from that perspective, neither is in the position where their drivers are a priority problem right now. He’s lucky that no-one else is making a case for being the next big thing, whilst the McLaren and to some extent Piastri’s relative performance is meaning that he’s not currently adding to his reputation.
"This is the one move I wouldn`t make if I were Lando." I couldn`t agree more with you. I think the only reason Daniel left and headed for Renault was the unfair favoritism being shown towards you know who,and the same thing would only be the same for Lando.
in the end perez has the best car on grid and is finishing well off 2nd place. he should be 2nd in most races so that tells me he is under performing.
The only question at the moment though is,who could replace him? I don`t think either of the Alpha Tauri drivers are ready yet and then there is Liam Lawson racing in super formula who would need a couple of years at Alpha Tauri before progressing to Red Bull. So helmet will just have to stick with Perez for now,at least he`s still second in the championship and should ensure victory in the constructors,but I must admit,Alonso is now only 9 points behind so he may well take over second spot soon.
Helmut Marko had to apologise yesterday for attributing Perez’s inconsistency in performance this season on him being Mexican! Very bizarre! What a thing to say He’s a strange bloke old Helmut.
I'm not sure he's racist per se, just an obnoxious dick-head, that's why the library at school he went to as a boy is called the Ayrton Senna Library.
so racist and too stupid to even know where his no 2 driver is from. cool to know what is dominating f1 then
Looks like it`s time for another Helmet dig at Checo."Perez needs a change of climate and team. Now we’ll see how the next two races go. But the team and he are aware that he is in a crisis.” He promised not to bad mouth him before the Mexican GP, but he couldn`t resist doing so before Austin. Even that statement about Mexicans in South America was pretty dumb,as everyone knows it`s in North America.
I wonder how long he has before he is told he needs a change of climate ? I didn’t know until just now that he’s not a member of RBR .
Once verstappen had a.massive whinge about him.and then worked to cost gim the 2nd place last year he was done. the fact the car is this dominant in one garage as pants in another suggests the team are not providing much to improve the situation. the overall car package probably suits verstappen perfectly and hurts perez but he should be able to independently set up to do just fine
Would it be possible for Adrian Newey with all his amazing ingenuity and resourcefulness to invent two cars for next year? One to suit big head and one for Perez,or would that be too expensive?