Max Verstappen defends teammate Sergio Perez, highlighting Red Bull’s struggles and insisting the Mexican driver wasn’t solely to blame.
The threat to Sergio Perez’s F1 career “was not always his fault.”
This is the view of Max Verstappen, who faces the prospect of a new teammate next year after Red Bull failed to secure the constructors’ championship, finishing 77 points behind McLaren F1.
“It was a complete failure for us,” said Verstappen, the four-time world champion, when asked about the battle for the constructors’ title.
“It was tough for Checo, but it wasn’t always his fault. We just had a very difficult car at certain moments.”
Red Bull’s senior management has been very open about their deliberations to oust Perez, amid raging speculation over negotiations to terminate the Mexican’s contract for 2025.
“We will announce in the coming days what the driver lineup will look like next year,” added Dr. Helmut Marko, the team’s advisor, as the news was initially promised for the end of last week. According to the latest rumors, the announcement could come this afternoon.
Verstappen, however, is keen to defend Perez.
“I don’t want to criticize him, because he’s my teammate, and I get along very well with him. But I can also say clearly that not everything was his fault when things went wrong.”
“The biggest issue we had was that the car simply didn’t work at times. I know Checo’s driving style, and the car we had at a certain point was just very difficult to drive, even for me. That doesn’t help, of course.”
“We should have started working on that earlier, as it would have helped him a lot as well.”
“At the start of the season, he was often second or third,” Verstappen continued. “That was good, but at a certain point, it became very difficult.”
“Confidence can take a hit then. Some people are a bit more sensitive to that than others. But I think as a team, we haven’t always managed to support him well.”
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Verstappen Defends Checo: Red Bull’s Support Lacking Verstappen Defends Checo: Red Bull’s Support Lacking
