Sergio Perez Already Ruled Out of Contention Despite Champion Max Verstappen’s Misery in Jeddah: “Let’s Be Very Realistic”

The street race in Jeddah is promising a lot of excitement building on from the qualifying session. Red Bull, potentially on their way to another front-row lockout, came across a rare reliability issue. Max Verstappen limped out of the Q2 after a gearbox issue, placing him 15th on the starting grid. His teammate, Sergio Perez, took full advantage of his absence and qualified on pole position for the race. However, if we are to believe a Dutch racing driver from a different discipline, Perez still does not have a chance of winning.

Tom Coronel, the WTCC racing driver, delivered this verdict in his analysis on Viaplay as quoted by F1 Maximaal. The Dutchman believes despite a huge gap between the Red Bull men on the grid, the Mexican does not stand a chance. In fact, Coronel believes Perez is on pole only because Verstappen was out of the equation.

Disregarding Perez’s pole, he said. “You only have the chance of pole if Verstappen drops out.” (Translated by Google)

“Last year he was also on pole. I don’t think he won it,” added Coronel. “Let’s be very realistic for a moment: it’s about race pace. You drive fifty laps and race pace is managing your tires and checking how you handle them. We know that Pérez is not the strongest in this.”

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Despite Perez’s championship-winning ambitions, Coronel completely disregarded the Mexican in comparison to his double-world champion teammate. However, Coronel believes Verstappen starting from 15th in the race is a favorable scenario for the fans.

Dutch racing driver sees Max Verstappen starting from P15 as an exciting prospect for the fans

Verstappen secured 15 race wins in the previous campaign, an incredible individual achievement. However, Verstappen, starting from pole and winning by a huge margin became monotonous for the fans. The Dutchman starting from the 15th is much more exciting, according to Coronel, especially for the fans.

“It will be very interesting, because it is actually very good if you just put Verstappen a little further back every time because that just gives the Sunday a stimulus of what is going to happen. Otherwise, it becomes monotonous,” he said, echoing every fan’s unsaid belief.

Verstappen did exactly that in at least a couple of races in the previous season. There is no reason the Dutchman can’t do it again.

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Moreover, if Verstappen can repeat the feat and win the race in Jeddah again, it will further solidify his favorite tag for the title. Not that he needed it but we are sure the Dutchman will prove it every opportunity he gets.