Since the beginning of the 2022 season, Max Verstappen has been running riots. To limit his wrath, only one contender has emerged as the ray of hope for F1 fans, and it’s none other than Sergio Perez. As weird as it may sound, the Mexican has been the only one so far to check on the progress of his teammate and looks strong enough to pose any challenge to the reigning champion. Standing just six points behind after the four rounds, it seems to be the only battle on the cards for the championship.

However, there’s one hindrance to this wish of the fans. And that is the dominance, aggression, and consistency of Max Verstappen, which may pose a bigger challenge to an aging Sergio Perez. This is all in addition to the belief of the fans that the team prefers Max to be their number-one driver, as evident from the subliminal messaging. So, while there’s humongous support for Checo, the fans who know what Max is capable of doing is being wary even as the hype is being generated after the Mexican’s dominance during the Baky weekend.

The skepticism, or rather the caution, is also being taken care of in the home region of the driver. The famous journalist Juan Fossaroli talked about this bull run from Checo and what it would take for him to win the championship battle. He did so after he was asked if the Red Bull driver is being sold as world championship material in his home country and if everyone is excited.

To this, Fossaroli, on the F1 Nation podcast, replied, “No, we’re not selling him like world champion because we know how difficult is to win a world championship and more with a two-time world champion in a team that is maybe based around Max Verstappen. But anyway, I think he has the chance. We’re not going to build him like a world champion, but if he goes step by step, maybe he have the chance.”

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Checo has already been termed the king of the streets. With two major street races, Miami and Monaco, coming up next, he has a good chance to dominate the weekends and possibly take the lead in the championship. If he does manage to do that, he could have quite some support from the team as well.

Helmut Marko claims Red Bull changed Sergio Perez

Sergio Perez arrived at Red Bull in 2021. Before that, he hadn’t had much success in terms of numbers. But the fortunes have changed for him since his arrival at the Milton-Keynes-based squad. What worked right for him apart from a good car? The team’s chief advisor, Dr. Helmut Marko, weighs in on his opinion.

As quoted by RacingNews365, Marko said, “So don’t underestimate Sergio. He changed a lot since he came to us. He started working!” Then, when Damon Hill joked if the Austrian took credit for Checo’s success, he added, “I’m not taking the credit! But, before, he was a Mexican race driver who was enjoying life. He still does, but he does the necessary work.”

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Checo’s start to last year’s campaign was a bit shaky. Consistency wasn’t visible when the times were challenging, unlike this year’s run so far. Can we expect a twist in the tale?