Perez Believes He Helped Verstappen While He Started Having 'Similar Issues'

Wednesday, 04 September 2024 at 14:00

Updated at Wednesday, 04 September 2024 at 14:59

Red Bull Racing driver Sergio Perez suggested Max Verstappen started having similar problems to him during the 2024 Italian Grand Prix.

Ever since the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix (for the last seven Grand Prix weekends), Sergio Perez has struggled in the Red Bull Racing car, never finishing better than sixth.

While the Mexican driver was much closer to the Dutchman during the most recent race weekend at Monza Circuit, it might not have been the way Red Bull imagined it.

Perez qualified in P8 (similar to previous weekends), but this time, Max Verstappen could not perform much better and qualified in P7, only 0,04 seconds ahead of his 34-year-old teammate.

It was clear during the 16th round of the season in Italy that Red Bull Racing cars struggled with balance. Speaking to the media after the race, Perez suggested Verstappen started experiencing the same problems as he did for a long time.

“"I really feel like I'm in the same boat as I've been in the last ten races. But now, all of a sudden, Max has come to similar issues. So there's a little bit of confusion there. But it's clear in the data where the problem is."”

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“"I'm pretty disappointed. I was expecting it to be difficult, but not this bad. We basically were slow and high degradation, especially on the medium [tire compound]."”

How did Perez help Verstappen during the 2024 Italian Grand Prix?

Red Bull's F1 car felt so bad during the race for Max Verstappen that he stated afterward that winning any Championship wasn't realistic for his team at the moment.

Though Lando Norris managed to close the gap to the triple World Champ by eight more points, it could have been worse if Perez hadn't helped Verstappen during the Italian Grand Prix.

The Mexican driver held up a faster George Russell behind him for a long enough time that when he finally passed him, he didn't have enough laps to catch up with Verstappen.

However, he came close. Ultimately, Russell crossed the finish line only 1.783 seconds behind the Dutchman. Perez added:

“"I compromised a little bit my race, I think, to keep George behind. That worked quite well for us because we were able to hold George behind for a little bit."”