Red Bull’s Sergio Perez Commends Max Verstappen for Making the ‘Difference’ in a Not So Dominant RB18: “He Definitely Pulled a Gear or Two”

Has Red Bull dominated the F1 season so far? The stats would say so. With 619 points in the Constructors’ Championship in 18 races, and the next-best score being 454, the gap is massive, and that’s emblematic of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez’s performance all season long.

Red Bull ended the 2021 season on a definite high. The same cannot be said about Mercedes. Mercedes were visibly shaken and unsettled by how it went down to the wire.

However, Red Bull still had one feather left to add to their caps. The Drivers’ Championship had been won but not the Constructors’ Championship. That part has visibly changed this time around. Sergio Perez, though, believes it’s not the car, called the RB18, which has brought them so many laurels this year. It’s Max Verstappen and Max Verstappen only.

He said “Well, I think Max has had an incredible season: a lot of respect for him. I’ve said it before: I don’t feel like Red Bull have had a dominant car, to have won the championship the way Max won it, so I think he definitely pulled a gear or two compared to anyone else.”

“I think in the beginning I was a lot closer to him; once he got quite comfortable with the car and I was more uncomfortable with it, he was driving at another level compared to everyone,” said Perez.

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Perez’s comments show how good Verstappen has been despite the car not being the best. If he’s this good with this car, what can we expect as the car keeps improving?

How Christian Horner plans to make the RB cars even better? 

As Perez mentions the RB18 hasn’t been the greatest car to have. And Red Bull is already working on changing that by building their own power unit.

Christian Horner, on the recent Beyond The Grid podcast episode, hinted that there are now plans for the Milton Keynes outfit to develop its own powertrains.

“The regulations that have come in – with the homologated engines until the end of 2025 – has allowed us that period of time to build up Red Bull Powertrains for entry in 2026.”

“And with regulations that are reasonably known, it enables us to take that plunge.”

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He shed some light on why they couldn’t go ahead with their plans yet, saying, “And of course with the budget cap as well, which was an absolutely crucial element to becoming a power unit manufacturer because otherwise, we would never be able to compete with the likes of the manufacturer teams that have unlimited R&D budget at their disposal.”

If the team is able to pull off this move, there might be utter Red Bull domination in the sport.