After five completed races of the season, it already seems clear that the two Red Bull drivers Sergio Pérez and Max Verstappen will fight an internal duel for the crown of the motorsport premier class Formula 1 in 2023. In the drivers’ standings, Max Verstappen (119 points), who won three races, is currently just ahead of the Mexican (105 points), who triumphed twice. Recently, there have been rumors that the close race is not at all to the liking of double world champion Verstappen. Pérez now surprises with some statements about the Dutchman.
At the latest at the 2021 season finale, Sergio Pérez proved that he is worth his weight in gold for his teammate. With an extreme fighting line, the 33-year-old made sure that record world champion Lewis Hamilton lost important seconds in the Mercedes and thus made it possible for Verstappen to race to the title in the last few meters of a crime season.
It was clear after the Brazilian GP in 2022 at the latest that Red Bull was not just sunshine and roses, when Verstappen – with the world title safely in his pocket – ignored a stable order that Pérez was supposed to bring runner-up a little closer to the world championship. As a result, the image of the tough egoist Verstappen was constructed, who envies his teammate every success. Pérez has now surprisingly clearly contradicted this assumption.
Verstappen is ‘a good loser’
“I would say he’s a good loser,” said Pérez when asked in the podcast “Pardon My Take”. “He has a reputation for being a bad loser, but to be honest, whenever I hit him, he said, ‘Well done,'” Checo continued. You also notice that Verstappen feels these words. In Formula 1, it is by no means a matter of course that a teammate reacts in this way and he appreciates the Dutchman for that.
In his long career, Pérez drove alongside ex-world champion Jenson Button and Nico Hülkenberg, among others.
The statements put Verstappen in a different light. However, one has to restrict that both Red Bull drivers were guests during the conversation. Publicly counting his opponent would also be very uncharacteristic of Pérez.