Verstappen aspirations unchanged by Perez Red Bull partnership
Perez is Verstappen's fourth different team-mate in as many years
Max Verstappen has insisted the arrival of Sergio Perez at Red Bull "doesn't change" anything as he aims to challenge for the Formula 1 world championship.
Perez is Verstappen's fourth different team-mate in as many years. Daniel Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon have all been beaten by the Dutchman, with Albon being dropped at the end of last season.
The Mexican arrives at the team with high expectations having finished fourth in the drivers' standings last season with a maiden victory in Sakhir and when asked of his own expectations of Perez, Verstappen said: "I expect Checo to do a good job as he has done in his career in F1.
"I'm excited to work together with him and I hope we can bring the team a lot of points."
Verstappen was the sole challenger to Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas last season, narrowly missing out on splitting the two Mercedes drivers in last year's standings.
Adding he already enjoys a "good relationship" with the Mexican, Verstappen said it makes little difference to him which driver sits on the other side of the garage to him as his focus remains on the cars ahead.
He continued: “For me, it honestly doesn’t really change that much. For the team on the other hand I think we always want to score with two cars as high as possible so let’s see if that is going better this year.
“That is the goal, it is what we all want, to try and make it a bit more difficult for probably Mercedes. They must be the favourites still.”
Related
More F1 news
Recommended by the editors
F1 Explained
What is ADUO? The FIA lifeline that could save F1 teams
Ferrari
The Ferrari 'conspiracy' at the Japanese Grand Prix that could worry Lewis Hamilton
Japanese Grand Prix
F1 on Apple TV: How US fans can watch the 2026 Japanese Grand Prix for FREE
Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen completely lost with F1: 'I'm not angry, that's not good'
Races
-
Grand Prix of Australia 2026
-
Grand Prix of China 2026
-
Grand Prix of Japan 2026
-
Grand Prix of Bahrain 2026
-
Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2026
-
Miami Grand Prix 2026
-
Grand Prix du Canada 2026
-
Grand Prix De Monaco 2026
-
Gran Premio de Barcelona-Catalunya 2026
-
Grand Prix of Austria 2026
-
Grand Prix of Great Britain 2026
-
Grand Prix of Belgium 2026
-
Grand Prix of Hungary 2026
-
Dutch Grand Prix 2026
-
Grand Prix of Italy 2026
-
Gran Premio de España 2026
-
Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2026
-
Grand Prix of Singapore 2026
-
Grand Prix of the United States 2026
-
Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2026
-
Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2026
-
Las Vegas Grand Prix 2026
-
Qatar Grand Prix 2026
-
Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2026
Follow us on your favorite social media channel
Editorial & corporate information
Avenue HQ
10–12 East Parade
Leeds
LS1 2BH
United Kingdom Regional correspondence
View contact page