Max Verstappen highlights Sergio Perez FAILURE after brutal Red Bull comparison

Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez, 2024, Generic — Photo: © IMAGO

Red Bull

Verstappen highlights Perez FAILURE after brutal comparison

Sergio Perez has struggled at Red Bull this season

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Sunday 11 August 2024 09:57

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A brutal comparison between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez has further emphasised the Mexican's Red Bull struggles.

The 34-year-old has suffered a nightmare F1 season, with a series of poor performances that placed his Red Bull future in jeopardy.

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Perez made two consecutive Q1 exits at the British and Hungarian Grand Prix, struggling to come back from his crash at Silverstone, where he finished outside of the points.

Furthermore, Perez has only scored 24 points during the last six races of the season, with McLaren closing in on Red Bull in the constructors’ championship.

Sergio Perez has come under fire for his performances this season

Sergio Perez's struggles have helped McLaren gain in the constructors' championship

Were Red Bull correct to retain Sergio Perez?

Despite his poor performances, Red Bull have confirmed Perez will remain at the team ending discussions regarding his F1 future.

Whilst competing against Verstappen is no easy feat, Red Bull’s decision to retain Perez stands in direct contrast to their previous team decisions.

Alex Albon was axed from the team after the 2020 season for failing to match Verstappen, despite achieving similar results in a worse car during his time at Red Bull.

Yet the depths of Perez’s struggles have now come to light over the summer break, and the startling pace deficit he has to his team-mate.

The Mexican has failed to out-qualify his team-mate at every single grand prix this season, with Verstappen beating him on every occasion.

Sergio Perez has largest deficit to team-mate on the grid

In addition to this failure, Perez also possessed the widest 'supertime' gap to his team-mate.

A supertime is the fastest single lap by a driver over a weekend as a percentage of their quickest individual lap (100%), and averaged across the year.

Perez has the highest deficit to their team-mate, with a gulf of 0.953 seconds separating him from Verstappen, which for context is even further behind than Albon was in 2020.

0.675 seconds separates the Williams pair of Albon and Logan Sargeant, and the closest pairing was of Alpine drivers Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly of 0.015 seconds.