Forward of his return to the grid, Sergio Perez displays on the trials and tribulations of being Max Verstappen’s ‚crew‘ mate.
Following a disastrous 2024 marketing campaign, and regardless of nonetheless having two years on his contract, the Mexican was dropped in favour of Liam Lawson, who survived two races earlier than being demoted again to Crimson Bull’s junior crew and whereas Yuki Tsunoda struggled, issues weren’t too straightforward for Verstappen himself, thereby suggesting that it wasn’t essentially the second driver who was all the time at fault.
Nonetheless, as soon as the upgrades started arriving, the Dutchman mounted the comeback of comebacks and got here inside a few factors of claiming his fifth successive title, and one which many really feel would have been his most convincing.
Returning to the grid with Cadillac, Perez insists that the crew is constructed across the Dutchman and fears that the Austrian outfit is in decline.
„I used to be in the perfect crew but it surely was sophisticated as a result of being Max’s teammate at Crimson Bull is the worst job there may be in F1,“ he tells Oso Trava’s Cracks Podcast.
„Everybody forgot, did not they?“ he continues. „After I arrived at Crimson Bull, I began getting outcomes and all the pieces, and everybody forgot how tough it was to be in that seat.
„I used to be very conscious of what I used to be stepping into,“ he admits. I arrived at Crimson Bull and so they put you up towards one of many biggest drivers in historical past.
„I knew what I used to be up towards,“ he continues. „This challenge is constructed for Max. After I first sat down with Christian, he informed me: ‚Look, we’ll race with two vehicles as a result of we now have to race with two vehicles. However this challenge has been created for Max. Max is our expertise‘. It is like if Carlos Slim builds a crew and I am his driver, proper? And also you rent a Dutch man. So, it is the identical factor.
„That is what I used to be entering into, and I used to be very conscious of it. I informed him: ‚It would not matter. On this crew I’ll develop the automobile, I’ll assist the automobile, I’ll assist the crew‘.
„However all the pieces was an issue,“ he continues, „if I used to be quicker than Max it was an issue, a really tense environment was created; it was an issue for those who have been quicker than Max. In the event you have been too gradual and Max was gradual then all the pieces was an issue.“
The six-time race winner reveals that the foundations overhaul of 2022 provided him his largest alternative to tackle his teammate.
„When the automobile by mistake got here out very heavy, we had a really heavy automobile with the burden distribution too far ahead, proper? So, it was a lot, far more steady, it was all the time what I used to be in search of.
„So, at that second, I keep in mind that within the simulator I used to be quicker than Max, and I used to be already arriving on the race weekends enthusiastic about successful the race, and all the pieces got here robotically.
„As a driver, when you do not have to consider easy methods to drive, about what the automobile goes to do, all the pieces comes robotically. After which we had a automobile that possibly wasn’t a lot in Max’s type, and in 2022 I began preventing for the championship with him… till the upgrades arrived.
„When upgrades arrive, there’s a very clear course through which the crew has to go,“ he explains, „and that is once I begin to have issues. As a result of I now not know what the automobile goes to do within the nook, I am already enthusiastic about not crashing, after which the crashes begin, the accidents begin. You do not have 100% management.
„After which the identical factor occurs in 2023. The crew builds a way more steady automobile for each drivers, however as quickly because the upgrades arrive and I begin preventing for the championship with Max, he wins one race, I win one other, he wins one, I win one other, that means that over 4 races he received two and I received two, so we have been very evenly matched.
„And after we get to Barcelona, from preventing on the entrance, I’m going to being a second per lap slower. I now not had management of the automobile. So, then all this stress begins.
„All this stress, which was very onerous as a result of, effectively, the one at fault is the driving force, proper? Since you’re not targeted, since you’re doing too many commercials, or since you’re concerned in different issues.“
About to take one among its largest gambles, by way of producing its personal engine in partnership with Ford, and with senior personnel leaving frequently, the Mexican fears for the Austrian outfit.
„We had the perfect crew, sadly all the pieces was destroyed,“ he says. „We had the crew to have dominated the game for the subsequent ten years, I feel, and sadly all of it ended.“
