Max Verstappen Takes a Backhanded Jibe at Struggling Sergio Perez With Tall Praise for Daniel Ricciardo as Going Gets Tougher for the Mexican Driver

Do you recall the Sprint Race incident between Max Verstappen and George Russell in Baku? Max Verstappen wasn’t shy when it came to criticism of the Mercedes driver and said everything very clearly to express his frustration. However, the Dutchman took a cheeky approach as he took a jibe at Sergio Perez who’s been struggling recently. Amid all this, the Championship Leader also managed to squeeze in praise for Daniel Ricciardo. What exactly did Max Verstappen say?

After the amazing initial 4 races, Sergio Perez has fallen off the performance scale massively. The Mexican hasn’t made it to Q3 in the last 5 races which includes this weekend’s British GP. As Checo struggles, Daniel Ricciardo’s return is speculated by many F1 fans. Max Verstappen recently made statements suggesting that Daniel Ricciardo had some difficult years at McLaren but that’s behind now. The Australian hasn’t lost his talent as he’s doing a brilliant job in the simulator. 

However, Ricciardo wasn’t the only driver the Dutchman talked about after the Qualifying at Silverstone. After praising the Australian and talking about his experience, Verstappen went on to talk about Perez who got out in Q1 at the British GP qualifying. He explained how the team is fighting for the championship and needs both drivers to perform well. However, Verstappen might’ve taken a dig at Checo by suggesting that he alone can bring the constructor’s title home.

Max Verstappen is currently on 229 points whereas the Mercedes who are 2nd in constructors only have 178 points to their name. It was quite a flex from Verstappen to say that. According to Marca, when Verstappen was asked about Perez after qualifying, he said, “Of course we are fighting for the team championship. Although I can do that on my own too.” [translated via Google]

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However, Sergio Perez believes it wasn’t really his fault that he got eliminated in Q1 as he explains what exactly went on during the final lap of Q1. Let’s see what the Mexican has to say.

Tire Temperatures cost Sergio Perez the chance to get out of Q1.

It’s safe to say that Sergio Perez deserved to get into Q3. Checo showed a decent pace in the practice session on all the tire compounds. He finished FP1 and FP2 in the Top 5. However, Checo explains that because of the Red Flag, he sat at the end of the pitlane for well over 5 minutes losing tire temperature all the while. He wasn’t able to get enough heat into the tires during the warmup lap and paid the price for going out before anyone else.

According to Marca.com, Sergio Perez said “It was complicated at the end because we were longer at the end of the pit lane, it took a long time to get up to temperature, and in those conditions you need it. We had good track position, but very bad temperature in the tires. We were stopped there for many minutes and all the tires got cold; on that lap I couldn’t get them at the right temperature.”

What do you make of Max Verstappen’s comments about winning the constructors title all by himself?

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