Max Verstappen dismissed concerns over his team mate’s performance as one of Red Bull’s rivals warned he could cost them the constructors’ championship.
Verstappen claimed fourth on the grid for today’s race after Sergio Perez was eliminated in the first round of qualifying. Both drivers made mistakes in the high-speed Copse corner during Q1, but Perez’s ended his session as he got stuck in a gravel trap.Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was seen shaking his head after Perez’s error, which left him 19th on the grid. Perez has scored just 15 points over the last five rounds, during which time McLaren have taken 28 points out of Red Bull in the championship.
McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown says Perez’s poor form has opened the door for them in the constructors’ championship. His team lies third, 87 points behind Red Bull.
“You’ve got to assume Max is going to be first, second or third at every race for the balance of the year – probably more firsts than thirds,” he told media including RaceFans yesterday.
“Sergio underperforming is what’s opening the window for us. I think if we have the same points gain we’ve had the last six races over the balance of the year, we would get the job done.”
Brown said Perez’s performed should alarm Horner. “I would be – which I’m sure they are – very concerned about the lack of performance. But I like Sergio, so I wouldn’t want to comment further on that.”
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Verstappen defended Perez’s performance at Silverstone, saying he looked competitive in the practice sessions.
“I find it always difficult to comment on today because yesterday when he jumped in the car in FP2 he looked decent,” Verstappen added. “So it’s a bit unfair to say that this weekend he’s been off or whatever because I actually felt that in FP2 he felt good. Today with the conditions it’s tricky.”
Verstappen said he isn’t relying on Perez to help him fight for victory in today’s race. “At the end of the day, you always have to do it yourself,” he said after qualifying. “No one is going to help you win a race or whatever. You have to really go out from your own strength.
“Of course it was super-unfortunate to lose Checo in Q1. From my side, tomorrow is a new day where, first of all you have to wait and see what the weather will do as well.
“But I’m confident that if we just have a clean car, let’s say it like that, then we can be in the mix. I’m not saying that we’re going to be the quickest, but at least when we’re in the mix, you know there’s always something possible.”
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Although Red Bull extended Perez’s contract earlier this year, reports have claimed he could still be replaced next year. After qualifying Perez said his weekend “has been very strong up to now” and he isn’t paying attention to speculation over his future.
“I have a contract and I am fully focussed on my job, which is to deliver tomorrow,” he said. “I don’t have to think about anything else.
“The most concerned about [it] is myself. I want to get back to my form as well as possible and I’m just fully focussed on my form.”
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Armchair Expert (@armchairexpert)
7th July 2024, 10:36
Eddie Irvine and his quali gap to Michael Schumacher at Ferrari in 1997:
-Australia +0.409s
-Brazil +0.933s
-Argentina +0.554s
-San Marino +0.906s
-Monaco +1.488s
-Spain +0.560s
-Canada +1.408s
-France +0.312s
-Great Britain +0.365s
-Germany +1.028s
-Hungary +0.752s
-Belgium +2.5s
-Italy +0.267s
-Austria -0.005s
-Luxemburg +0.470s
-Japan +0.333s
-Europe +0.538s
That’s 16-1 for Schumacher and whooping pace advantage of 0.754s. Schumacher finished the year fighting for the title with 78 points, while Irvine scored only 24, which was 31% of Schumacher’s total.
On top of that Irvine:
-in Australia with his ridiculous first lap, first corner move took out Herbert and Villeneuve
-in Canada in first lap, second corner collided with Hakkinen and Magnussen
-in Germany in first lap, first corner drove into Frentzen, causing both retirements
-in Hungary collided with Nakano on the last lap
-in Belgium collided with Diniz on the last lap
Yet despite all of that I have never, ever saw or read the same absolutely toxic and vile criticism aimed at Irvine as it is now done to Perez. May it be because Irvine had the correct passport, while Perez is a Mexican and casual racism thrown his way EVERYWHERE is somehow acceptable? Did Perez forget how to drive after Chinese Grand Prix, because up to that point Max led Perez 110 to 85? Or maybe, maybe Max is the Greatest of All Time and whatever happened to Red Bull since Miami (which is VERY interesting discussion to have in itself) made the car undriveable for Perez, but Max with his otherworldly skills can still fight for wins in a car, which is 2nd, 3rd or 4th best, just like it was with Schumacher in 1997? BTW. That season Schumacher would have fought for the title in McLaren (with the same reliability as Ferrari, not the one Hakkinen suffered, losing at least 4 wins), Benetton, Jordan and Prost.
MichaelN
7th July 2024, 13:35
Or maybe the level of the sport has increased and huge gaps are no longer common, especially at the front of the grid. Also, do any European countries care enough about Mexico to have significant numbers of people motivated to dislike Mexicans? That seems rather far fetched. Pérez is just doing a very bad job.
The point about Red Bull going from dominant to being where they are now is a great one, and deserves more scrutiny. Something happened.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
8th July 2024, 0:34
It very clearly concides with newey’s announcement, I wonder if a genius like him can potentially have done something that immediately caused red bull to go from a dominant to a good car, especially as I read his work was under-appreciated by red bull’s bosses.
Jonathan Parkin
7th July 2024, 13:35
What is also true is that after finishing 3rd in the first round in 1996 their first year as teammates, Irvine wouldn’t get any testing mileage for months
Rick Gomez (@rgomez13)
7th July 2024, 14:55
I’m from South America and it never occurred to me that race or ethnicity, has been a factor in the conversation around Checo. I feel badly for him but questioning his current performance is fair.
ludewig
7th July 2024, 16:05
@Rick
Comments like these tell us a lot of how armchairexpert looks at people.
Nick T.
7th July 2024, 15:55
We’ve done data comparisons of how bad Perez has been and he’s matched some of the worst #2s in history. Irvine also had massive disadvantages. Perez’s only disadvantage is that the car is setup more toward a style Max likes and the defense that there was once a #2 who finished even worse isn’t a valid defense.
Asd
7th July 2024, 16:42
“May it be because Irvine had the correct passport, while Perez is a Mexican and casual racism thrown his way EVERYWHERE is somehow acceptable?”
Ahaha, what are you talking about?!? Sergio Perez is the exact same race as everybody. He’s ethnically south European (with probably some American genes). Nobody – not a single person in Europe – would recognize him as some foreign race.
Only USA-ians do this absurd thing of confusing ethnicity with nationality. You must be a USA-ian too, right? Or you live in a country from a sphere of USA-ian cultural influence where this nonsense is promoted.
——–
And your lap gap chart is nonsensical without context. Back in the 1990’s the field was usually spread by 5 seconds. Those gaps you show were typical back then.
Jmlabareda
7th July 2024, 18:05
Large gaps between team mates when the main driver is a star have existed forever
Senna – Berger
Schumacher – Irvine and Barrichello
Alonso – Massa
Lewis – Bottas
The main difference is how Red Bull (Horner / Mario) talk about it. They are the ones that cause this situation. Their toxic approach to drivers has some apparent benefits but has these little side effects
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
8th July 2024, 0:38
It’s a shame you had to bring ethnicity into it because I’m sure it has nothing to do with it, perez is just massively underperforming; having said that, interesting stats about the 1997 season and I like a post that shows how good schumacher was, I didn’t remember irvine’s season was that bad, however like others said you wouldn’t be able, even if you are verstappen, to give 7 tenths per lap to a decent team mate, times changed and even between the best and worst driver on the grid nowadays there’s only 1 second, it’s no longer possible to do what schumacher, senna and the likes were doing back then, example senna once outqualified prost on the dry by 1,5 sec, I don’t really see verstappen outqualifying norris in the same car by that margin now.
pastaman
8th July 2024, 15:29
Social media didn’t exist in 1997
Esteban
8th July 2024, 23:50
Gaps at the front (and indeed, at the whole field) are much less of what they used to be. Pérez is a mediocre driver doing an abysmal job. Ethnicity != nationality and it has nothing to do with the facts, and the fair questioning. I’m Mexican. Your fake progressive TOXIC comment has to be read in Hamilton’s attitude for full effect.
Coventry Climax
7th July 2024, 11:08
But Checo, this is your form. Always has been.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
8th July 2024, 0:41
At least in the last few years: good start, horrible bulk of the season, decent finish, next year again.
Damon (@damon)
7th July 2024, 11:26
“I find it always difficult to comment on today because yesterday when he jumped in the car in FP2 he looked decent,”
Well, and there’s the problem already. You aren’t suppose to look just “decent” in a RedBull.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
8th July 2024, 0:43
It’s quite fun to see verstappen trying to defend him, you know the situation is bad when you have to bring up free practice to say a driver did well!
As I recall though, verstappen wasn’t really supportive of albon when he was underperforming, he said something like “if he’s happy to come 9th in a red bull, who am I to judge? I wouldn’t be though”, not the exact words, but I remember liking it cause I also couldn’t stand such an underperforming team mate, it’s odd he’s so much more supportive now.
TomD11 (@tomd11)
7th July 2024, 11:41
I can only imagine Pierre and Alex are feeling a bit hard done by at this point. I can understand (even if I don’t approve) RBR not wanting to have two roosters in the henhouse but Sergio has been utterly abysmal. It’s simply unacceptable that he’s over a hundred points behind Max at the halfway point and P5 in the standings.
David
7th July 2024, 19:31
Why would they feel hard done by when they were both also massively off Max’s pace?
Red Bull aren’t running slow drivers in their second seat for charity. I’m sure they would like more performance – and Checo, at times, has been close to Max – but Checo also has maturity (and sponsors) on his side.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
8th July 2024, 0:45
Tom’s comment makes perfect sense in this context, they could feel hard done by cause they could’ve stayed if red bull had been as patient with them as they are being with perez, and albon for example was showing signs of improvement when he was fired.
Neil (@neilosjames)
7th July 2024, 12:56
I’d much rather Red Bull had two competitive drivers, but I do have a lot of sympathy for Perez.
Having a clear No. 2 can have benefits if you’ve got a lead driver like Verstappen, but it seems to be a recurring theme that as soon as a driver develops ‘No. 2 mentality’, their performances fall away. Good recent examples being Perez and the way Bottas gradually declined at Mercedes.
The last driver I remember who would have seen himself as a clear No. 2 but didn’t nosedive was Barrichello, 20 years ago.
I think being a successful racing driver is as much about mentality and self-belief as it is about using your hands and feet. A driver in a No. 2 role can’t possibily maintain those things if he looks across the garage and sees a team-mate he knows he can’t beat, or has to live every day as an afterthought within the team. So I’d argue it’s almost unreasonable for a team to place a driver into a No. 2 role and expect them to perform anywhere near their potential.
Jonathan Parkin
7th July 2024, 13:33
Well said.
I will add though that Rubens did display remarkable fortitude in 2002. At Austria he could have a) Said screw you and won the race or b) Retired on the penultimate lap so his team wouldn’t get his points
He did neither of those two things and even returned to Magny Cours to celebrate Michael’s championship – he had previously stormed off after DNSing for the second time that season
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
8th July 2024, 0:54
And his reward was schumacher gifting him a win at indianapolis 2002.
Coventry Climax
7th July 2024, 13:50
That’s only partly true though. A true sportsman fights until the very end. It was Barichello’s choice to stay at Ferrari and under contractual obligations to serve Schumacher on any and all occasions.
That makes him a poor sportsman, in my view, whatever his driving skills were at the time.
He should have left Ferrari instead of signing the second contract with them, to go fight with another team and on his own behalf. But he was (accepting the money to play) a nice guy, not a fighter.
Look where he ended up eventually. There’s a reason for that.