Perez Admits It “Hasn’t Been Easy” To Watch Verstappen Run Away With F1 Title

Posted on August 25, 2023 | by Charley Williams At the start of the 2023 F1 season, it looked (for a short while) that Sergio Perez could challenge Max Verstappen for the championship this year, as it became glaringly obvious the only ounce of a title fight we would see was between the two of them. However, that quickly unravelled.  Ever since Perez’s victory at the Azerbaijan GP, Verstappen has won every single race – including sprints – and is on track to equal Sebastian Vettel’s 2013 record of nine consecutive wins at his home grand prix in Zandvoort this weekend. In the same timeframe, Checo failed to reach Q3 five times in a row, with team boss Christian Horner and Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko putting it down to the pressure of being a championship ‘contender.’ We often hear from drivers whose teammates are outperforming them, discussing how difficult it is to see them succeed, and it’s no different with Sergio. Talking to Sky Sports F1, Perez said: “It hasn’t been easy for me because I know the car’s potential, Max has been exploiting that, but when you don’t really have that feeling, but you know that your car has a massive potential, it’s not an easy situation as a driver to be in. “But certainly, we have got a great race car, and we just have to make sure we utilise it because you never know when you’re going to have a car that is as good as this one. “I’m mainly focused on myself. There are 10 races, and I just want to get some victories and get that consistency, like we had in the last races and finish the season very strong. It’s only going to help next year, so that’s my target.” Fingers crossed, we can see Checo back on form for the second half of the season!