Perez makes HUGE Verstappen claim to give rivals title hope
Perez makes HUGE Verstappen claim to give rivals title hope
Red Bull driver Sergio Perez has suggested that Ferrari would have beaten his world champion team, even if Max Verstappen didn't fail to finish the Australian Grand Prix.
Verstappen suffered a mechanical issue with his rear right brake, causing the Dutchman to retire from the race.
READ MORE: Verstappen OUT of Australian Grand Prix after SHOCKING start
The three-time world champion had been overtaken by Ferrari's Carlos Sainz even before the issue became apparent, having failed to speed off into the distance on lap one as we so often see from the 26-year-old.
Sainz went on to win the race, with Charles Leclerc's solid performance securing a one-two for the Maranello-based outfit. Perez meanwhile, as the sole remaining Red Bull, could only finish fifth.
READ MORE: F1 Results Today: Australian Grand Prix times
Perez admits Red Bull struggles
It's unlikely that Ferrari have what it takes to maintain a title battle against Red Bull for the full 24-race season, but the top four drivers in the championship standings are now only separated by just 11 points.
At the very least, the team will hope that they can have more weekends like they had in Melbourne, and Perez believes that there are tracks at which Red Bull are vulnerable to the threats from behind.
"We just didn't have the pace unfortunately," the Mexican told Sky Sports F1. "I think we struggled early on. We could see Ferrari and McLaren were a step ahead of us.
"We couldn't get the balance into the window. There's some work to do for the coming races. It was a very unique tarmac and throughout the weekend we were not able to manage the best possible grip level.
"Just as a team we didn't have the pace throughout the weekend. We were struggling already from Friday and never got on top of the management of tyres. We just have to understand and improve.
"We already saw on a track like this, like Vegas, Ferrari were stronger than us and we couldn't look after our front tyres."
When asked whether Ferrari would have won if Red Bull team-mate Verstappen did not retire, Perez said: "Absolutely yes."
READ MORE: EXCLUSIVE: Newey 'one hour' from forming all-champion F1 line up
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F1 Standings
Drivers
- Oliver Bearman
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Pérez
- Max Verstappen
- Alexander Albon
- Logan Sargeant
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Valtteri Bottas
- Zhou Guanyu
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Yuki Tsunoda
Races
- Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2024
- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Australia 2024
- MSC Cruises Grand Prix of Japan 2024
- Grand Prix of China 2024
- Miami Grand Prix 2024
- Gran Premio dell'Emilia Romagna 2024
- Grand Prix of Monaco 2024
- Grand Prix du Canada 2024
- Gran Premio de España 2024
- Grand Prix of Austria 2024
- Grand Prix of Great Britain 2024
- Grand Prix of Hungary 2024
- Grand Prix of Belgium 2024
- Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Italy 2024
- Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2024
- Grand Prix of Singapore 2024
- Grand Prix of the United States 2024
- Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2024
- Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2024
- Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024
- Qatar Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2024
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