Forward of his return to the grid, Sergio Perez displays on the trials and tribulations of being Max Verstappen’s ‘staff’ mate.
Following a disastrous 2024 marketing campaign, and regardless of nonetheless having two years on his contract, the Mexican was dropped in favour of Liam Lawson, who survived two races earlier than being demoted again to Crimson Bull’s junior staff and whereas Yuki Tsunoda struggled, issues weren’t too straightforward for Verstappen himself, thereby suggesting that it wasn’t essentially the second driver who was all the time at fault.
Nevertheless, as soon as the upgrades started arriving, the Dutchman mounted the comeback of comebacks and got here inside a few factors of claiming his fifth successive title, and one which many really feel would have been his most convincing.
Returning to the grid with Cadillac, Perez insists that the staff is constructed across the Dutchman and fears that the Austrian outfit is in decline.
“I used to be in one of the best staff but it surely was difficult as a result of being Max’s teammate at Crimson Bull is the worst job there may be in F1,” he tells Oso Trava’s Cracks Podcast.
“Everybody forgot, did not they?” he continues. “After I arrived at Crimson Bull, I began getting outcomes and every thing, and everybody forgot how tough it was to be in that seat.
“I used to be very conscious of what I used to be stepping into,” he admits. I arrived at Crimson Bull they usually put you up towards one of many biggest drivers in historical past.
“I knew what I used to be up towards,” he continues. “This challenge is constructed for Max. After I first sat down with Christian, he advised me: ‘Look, we’ll race with two automobiles as a result of now we have to race with two automobiles. However this challenge has been created for Max. Max is our expertise’. It is like if Carlos Slim builds a staff and I am his driver, proper? And also you rent a Dutch man. So, it is the identical factor.
“That is what I used to be moving into, and I used to be very conscious of it. I advised him: ‘It does not matter. On this staff I’ll develop the automotive, I’ll assist the automotive, I’ll assist the staff’.
“However every thing was an issue,” he continues, “if I used to be sooner than Max it was an issue, a really tense ambiance was created; it was an issue when you have been sooner than Max. For those who have been too gradual and Max was gradual then every thing was an issue.”
The six-time race winner reveals that the foundations overhaul of 2022 supplied him his greatest alternative to tackle his teammate.
“When the automotive by mistake got here out very heavy, we had a really heavy automotive with the burden distribution too far ahead, proper? So, it was a lot, far more steady, it was all the time what I used to be on the lookout for.
“So, at that second, I keep in mind that within the simulator I used to be sooner than Max, and I used to be already arriving on the race weekends fascinated by successful the race, and every thing got here mechanically.
“As a driver, when you do not have to consider the way to drive, about what the automotive goes to do, every thing comes mechanically. After which we had a automotive that possibly wasn’t a lot in Max’s fashion, and in 2022 I began preventing for the championship with him… till the upgrades arrived.
“When upgrades arrive, there’s a very clear path by which the staff has to go,” he explains, “and that is once I begin to have issues. As a result of I now not know what the automotive goes to do within the nook, I am already fascinated by not crashing, after which the crashes begin, the accidents begin. You do not have 100% management.
“After which the identical factor occurs in 2023. The staff builds a way more steady automotive for each drivers, however as quickly because the upgrades arrive and I begin preventing for the championship with Max, he wins one race, I win one other, he wins one, I win one other, which means that over 4 races he received two and I received two, so we have been very evenly matched.
“And after we get to Barcelona, from preventing on the entrance, I’m going to being a second per lap slower. I now not had management of the automotive. So, then all this strain begins.
“All this strain, which was very onerous as a result of, effectively, the one at fault is the motive force, proper? Since you’re not targeted, since you’re doing too many commercials, or since you’re concerned in different issues.”
About to take considered one of its greatest gambles, by way of producing its personal engine in partnership with Ford, and with senior personnel leaving frequently, the Mexican fears for the Austrian outfit.
“We had one of the best staff, sadly every thing was destroyed,” he says. “We had the staff to have dominated the game for the subsequent ten years, I believe, and sadly all of it ended.”
