“[Sergio Perez] Doesn’t Trouble Max Verstappen”: F1 Pundit Makes a Realistic Case for Red Bull’s Second Seat

Sergio Perez is yet to confirm his seat on the team and the Japanese Grand Prix might support his case. For now, Red Bull needs nothing more in a teammate than one that can let Max Verstappen do his thing and score points for the team. Both of which, Checo is doing very well. Except for the incident at the Australian Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen had a DNF due to his brake Callipers catching fire, but Sergio Perez failed to win the race, letting Red Bull down on an expectation they had from the Mexican. Despite the performance in Melbourne, Verstappen and Perez made a 1-2 finish in Japan resuming the Red Bull’s dominance. However, this still does not confirm Checo’s seat in the team, and on the Sky Sports F1 podcast, Pundits spoke about why he is probably the best fit for Red Bull.

Sergio Perez, the incredible teammate for Max Verstappen

With the dominance that Max Verstappen is displaying, Red Bull has made a clear strategy to let the defending champion push forward in races. Sergio Perez is the supporting driver in the team whose main role is to fend off drivers from challenging Verstappen. The strategy is evident ever since the 2021 World Championship was given to the Dutchman after Perez held back Lewis Hamilton in the deciding race.

Taking that into consideration, Karun Chandhok and Martin Brundle came forth to speak to Matt Baker about why Perez deserves the Red Bull seat in 2025. About Checo, Martin Brundle said, “I’m, you know, I didn’t, commercially, it’s very useful for a Red Bull to have Sergio Perez in the car as well.” Perez brings in a lot of sponsor money for Red Bull from his home country Mexico which has been a strong support system for the team to push their boundaries.

Continuing the justification, Brundle said, “As you know, he’s very experienced; he doesn’t throw it in the wall a lot, and he doesn’t really trouble Max. He’s fast enough to keep Max on his toes, but not to really trouble him.” This marks how Checo is a good teammate for Verstappen by letting the 3-time world champion take the lead and keep up his pace as well.

Brundle called Checo, “the perfect driver in that seat at the moment.” Concluding the message, he added, “there’s a reason why Sergio has been in that car so long, and that’s because he suits Red Bull and what they need at the moment. And I don’t think that’s particularly changed, unless they think somebody else is taking and taking the opportunity.”

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With this Sergio Perez still has a strong chance of retaining his seat in Red Bull, and the team has made some upgrades to his car.

Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen using the same setup

Following the Japanese Grand Prix, Helmut Marko stepped up to explain a huge upgrade that Red Bull gave Sergio Perez. This could be the reason he finished second unlike what happened at the Australian Grand Prix. Marko told the media, “Sergio is following the set-up [of Max] and that is the quickest set-up anyway.”

But throwing shade on his skills in comparison to Max Verstappen, he added, “That is what really matters and what is important. You can’t beat Max by having a different set-up. You can’t beat Max anyway, so that’s it.” In the eyes of Red Bull, Perez will always be number 2 and as long as Checo is okay with it, he gets to be in the team.

However the question still remains, will Sergio Perez retain his seat or will another driver take his position? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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