“Stand Up to the Forces…”: Ex-F1 Champion Explains Why Perez Succeeded & Gasly-Albon Failed at Red Bull

Sergio Perez made a good start to his Red Bull career in 2021. Although he could not challenge for the title, he helped Max Verstappen in winning the drivers’ championship. He finished P4 in the championship and got his first win for the team at Baku.

Before Checo, young drivers such as Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon had struggled against Verstappen. But the Mexican put up a good front and sometimes even matched his teammate. Former F1 world champion Damon Hill revealed the reason why Perez succeeded in Red Bull while many young drivers failed.

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Sergio Perez has a lot of experience: Former world champion Damon Hill

As reported by Motorsport-Turkey, the 1996 world champion mentioned that currently both Perez and Gasly are on the same level in terms of performance. But while Gasly failed in his time in Red Bull, Checo stood up and succeeded.

“The question is: what happens when a driver like that joins Red Bull Racing? As we’ve seen, many drivers in this team didn’t stay there. For example, that was the case with Alex Albon.

But Sergio has always seemed to me like someone who can stand up to the forces inside Red Bull because he has a lot of experience. In situations like these, young drivers start to struggle,” said Hill.

“Although it’s hard for them to challenge and stick to their lines in situations like these, as they owe Red Bull what they’ve trained in the program, they need to be tougher to defend their place in the team. This is what they need to learn,” said the former world champion.

It would be fascinating to see how Perez performs in his second season with the team. After his first season playing second fiddle to Max, will Checo challenge for the title and out-drive the world champion?

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