Sergio Perez has warned Max Verstappen that it is better to finish with two cars across the line than one after the Dutchman pushed ‘unnecessarily’ in Saudi Arabia. The Mexican also claims that he will be given ‘every opportunity’ to win this season’s Drivers’ Championship ahead of his Red Bull team-mate, with former F1 world champion Damon Hill recently claiming that he has to stand up for himself and refuse to be pushed around.
Having finished a long way behind Verstappen in each of his two full seasons at Red Bull, Perez had to settle for a side-kick role while the Dutchman powered to two consecutive world titles. Early indications suggest that the pair could be a closer match for one another this year, however, with one win apiece so far.
Perez put together a dominant display to come away with the win from Saudi Arabia last time out, although Verstappen pushed hard in the closing stages and snatched the fastest-lap bonus point to retain his spot at the top of the standings.
“They’re letting us race, in fairness to the team,” Perez told Sky Sports. “[But] there are just times, like in Bahrain, where there was no reason to keep pushing, and in Jeddah there was no reason to keep pushing because we were going at a very similar pace.
“At the end of the day, as a team, we have to always think that it’s better to finish with both cars than missing one. I think we are in a good place. Everything is magnified by the media when we’re not at the race weekends but there is a good atmosphere in the team and we want to beat each other, but there is a lot of respect.”
In the press conference leading up to this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, Perez continued by explaining how things are now ‘different’ at Red Bull while insisting that he has the team’s ‘full support’ to take the fight to Verstappen.
Renewed fighting talk from Perez will be welcomed by Hill, who recently urged the 33-year-old to develop a ruthless streak if he is to have a chance of toppling the dominant Verstappen. “Maybe he has stepped it up a notch,” he told the F1 Nation podcast.
“Standing up for yourself and saying ‘No, I am not going to get pushed around’. Naturally you think the attention is going to go to Max, but Checo has stepped up to the plate and shown that he is not going to be pushed around or pointed out as the weakest link.”
