The most honest quotes in Formula 1 are always shortly after the finish line. When racing cars and racing drivers are still in full swing, detached from the battle for positions, but full of adrenaline. Pleasure and frustration then culminate in a redeeming cry, expressions of thanks and, above all, announcements. It was no different after 51 rather tough laps at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Sergio Perez, who claimed his fifth win for Red Bull Racing, including his fifth victory on a street circuit, announced he was “back in the fight”. The Mexican is only six World Championship points behind his team-mate in the overall standings. He has just as many successes to show for this racing year as Max Verstappen, who finished behind him. Being a good second is about the worst thing Verstappen can do. The Dutchman likes to lament when he doesn’t finish first, which is why team boss Christian Horner comforted his star driver from the command post with the words that colleague Perez was simply more lucky in the crucial safety car phase of the race: “And the season is still long.”
Horner later rated Perez’s performance as “phenomenal”, but the facial expressions and tone of the Red Bull grandees suggest that they would have preferred to have had a double in the reverse order. Probably also because the atmosphere in the team would have been more pleasant. For Verstappen it is a perspective that takes some getting used to, only being behind for three quarters of the race and then having to congratulate the other.
A pit stop shortly before a safety car phase robbed Verstappen of his chance of winning on the tenth lap. unlucky, can happen? Not for someone who’s as bad at losing as he is. The Dutchman therefore wants to watch the scene with his team when his compatriot Nyck de Vries put the Alpha Tauri in the gang – and whether the box shouldn’t have seen right away that the car was irreparably damaged. Then it would have been a strategic mistake not to wait and see whether the race would be neutralized immediately. Then both cars could have changed easily and Perez would not have had the decisive time advantage.
Formula 1 can really use two racing bulls who want to fight for the title
However, it was Verstappen himself who, while in the lead, had pushed for a stop because of his degrading tires. “We’ll have to take a closer look at that too,” he demanded afterwards, after all, one would have a better overview from the command post than from the cockpit. So to speak, a video proof on his own behalf, to make two things clear: that the victory was actually due to him, and that it was also clarified on whom in the head-to-head race the teammates should bet in the future.
This will probably not be a pleasant road to Miami, the world champion wants to defend his status as Red Bull’s number one with all his might. But he is warned, after the humiliations of the recent past, Perez not only seems to have improved his driving skills – the adjutant is now also on an equal footing when it comes to selfish thinking. Two racing bulls who want to fight for the title, the Champions League of motorsport can really use that. It promises high voltage, maybe also short circuits.
At Red Bull Racing they were initially happy that they could rely on “Checo”. Whenever the strategists, the technology or Verstappen go wrong, the second man has to be there. But that’s all he should normally want, no other team pursues this kind of Darwinism as strongly as the British-Austrian group ensemble. Anyone who longs for nest warmth would get a cold shock here. Perez is already through that, he knows he’s on his own and seems to be getting better at it. When there was an ominous accident during qualifying in Melbourne, he didn’t want to blame himself, but contradicted the official terminology and saw the mistake in the racing car technology. In Baku he added: “Without these problems I would lead the World Cup.”
Sergio Perez is enjoying the best start to the season of his career
Suddenly the 33-year-old has the chance to overtake the great champion. “The pressure was great, but I delivered,” said Perez after the second win in Baku within 24 hours, after he had already won the sprint on Saturday. On the Caspian Sea, the two Red Bull pilots circling in their own orbit were allowed to race against each other, and Perez will continue to insist on that in the future.
“Of course Max wants to win the title. But I want that too. We will continue to do it as hard as we can,” announces the challenger, but then adds as if learned by heart: “With a high degree of respect. ” Verstappen, who has a highly ambivalent relationship with his team-mate, also nodded dutifully, but he relies on the competitor’s dropouts and his own perseverance: “Sergio did a great job here, but continuity will be crucial.”
Perez is having the best start to the season of his career, which is also due to the high proportion of road races in the early stages: “I have three children at home and wouldn’t travel the world if I didn’t believe that I could become world champion. That’s what I’m working on I go.”
It was similar last year, culminating in victory at the Monaco Grand Prix. After that it went down, also in relation to Verstappen. The Dutchman felt that Perez’s qualifying accident on the Cote d’Azur deliberately robbed him of his prestige success, and he subsequently refused his team-mate’s support on the way to second place in the overall standings when he was already the champion himself. Many found this strange, but the reasons should not be discussed publicly. All long forgotten, they claim today at Red Bull. But team boss Christian Horner knows: “Max has the memory of an elephant.”
