Michael Schumacher’s Dominant Exploits Shoved Down Sergio Perez’s Throat to Avoid Max Verstappen Frustrations

Sergio Perez has been in a storm in his professional life. How much ever he tries, he isn’t able to match up to his teammate, Max Verstappen. And the strong want to be the World Champion has only put him under more pressure. The pent-up pressure has translated into frustration that will do him no good. But there is one way that he can enjoy racing and that is if he learns from Michael Schumacher‘s ex-teammate on how he kept his cool.

On the latest episode of the Sky Sports F1 podcast, Former racer Karun Chandhok cited the contrasting experiences that Eddie Irvine and Rubens Barrichello had being Schumacher’s teammates at Ferrari. While Barrichello got frustrated trying to match his German teammate during his 5-year stint with Ferrari, Irvine had accepted that Schumacher couldn’t be beaten due to his immense natural talent. And Chandhok believes that is what Perez needs to do.

Chandhok said, “It’s the Ferrari situation that they had with Michael and Eddie Irvine and Rubens. Rubens ride a Ferrari in 2000 expecting to be alongside Michael and be an equal and compete against Michael and quickly realized that wasn’t gonna be the case. He basically spent 5 years being frustrated. Whereas Eddie Irvine went there, knew he wasn’t gonna do that, and thought – If I get within three-tenths of this bloke, that’ll be great! And I’m gonna be a Ferrari driver and life is good. And he was happy, made a lot of money, and lived a happier life in that period.”

Putting the final nail in this analogy, Chandhok said that Perez should just accept his fate as Irvine did. “At some point, Checo’s gotta accept he’s against one of the greatest naturally talented drivers ever to sit in a Formula 1 car,” concluded Chandhok.

Should Perez really give up his dream of winning a World Championship? While that is a decision that only he can take, Chandhok isn’t the only one who has put Verstappen on a pedestal. Helmut Marko too has recently said that the Dutchman is unmatchable in his current form.

Read More: “Broken” Sergio Perez Becomes Max Verstappen’s 4th Victim as Concerns Continue to Pile

Helmut Marko Puts Max Verstappen On a Pedestal High Enough for Guaranteed Victory

Max Verstappen is far beyond reach for any driver to even try to match his lap times. And he’s consistently kept this going for so long that getting P2 for any drivers feels like a win. We saw that in the case of Lando Norris at Silverstone and in Hungary – he was as ecstatic as if he’d won the race. And Helmut Marko too, believes the same.

“Being second behind Max is like a win,” said Marko, on the F1 Nation podcast. “There won’t be any other driver who could stay with him on one level. I know how good Max is [and] that has to be considered. He’s nursing the tires and he’s still going fast. He can read the race and he’s so far ahead [with] what he’s doing he’s already past. It’s unbelievable capacity in his head.”

The 2-time champion’s current win streak is at 8. When F1 returns to Zandvoort after the summer break, he would be looking to get his 9th consecutive win and match Sebastian Vettel’s record.

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