Max Verstappen acknowledged that he felt sympathy for the difficulties faced by Sergio Perez this year and insisted that his teammate at Red Bull is not an idiot in the face of criticism he considers severe.<\/p>\n
Sergio Perez’s position within the Milton Keynes team has remained fragile for most of the season, despite signing a new contract in June. A series of disastrous qualifying sessions compromised his chances in races.<\/p>\n
The inability of the Mexican to match the performances of his world champion teammate contributed to Red Bull falling behind the new constructors’ champions, McLaren, and the vice-champions, Ferrari. As discussions are planned now that the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix has closed the season, Perez has remained determined, asserting that his contract for next year remains valid.<\/p>\n
However, some rumors suggest the opposite, mentioning a possible promotion of Liam Lawson at Red Bull and the arrival of Isack Hadjar in F1, alongside Yuki Tsunoda. This would leave Perez without a seat for the next season.<\/p>\n
Asked about the possibility of having a new teammate next year, Verstappen responded: “I don’t know, it’s up to the team to decide. I’ve always worked very well with Checo, he’s honestly a great guy. It’s rare to have a teammate like him, who is always performing and also a pleasant person.”<\/p>\n
Verstappen has repeatedly defended Perez at the beginning of his difficulties with the RB20, highlighting issues related to the car. These problems also affected both drivers after the summer break, even frustrating the four-time world champion.<\/p>\n
Yes, I have sympathy for the situation he found himself in, adds Verstappen. I work with him every weekend, week after week, and I find that people have been very harsh on him. Of course, there have been weekends where it could have been better, but sometimes the criticism has been very harsh on him, because he’s not an idiot.<\/p>\n
\u00ab He has always been considered an excellent driver, and it has been difficult, but it was difficult for everyone on the team, because sometimes the car was just very complicated to drive. \u00bb<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Max Verstappen defended his teammate at Red Bull, as Sergio Perez’s position is under threat after a difficult season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":44546,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,1749],"tags":[941,1204,1334],"class_list":["post-30614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-f1","category-news","tag-verstappen","tag-perez","tag-red-bull"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n