Sergio Perez capture will hopefully make life difficult for Mercedes - Max Verstappen

Red Bull

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Perez capture will hopefully make life difficult for Mercedes - Verstappen

Dutch driver believes he and Perez can take the fight to Lewis Hamilton

Ian Parkes

Saturday 19 December 2020 09:59

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Max Verstappen is hoping Red Bull's capture of Sergio Perez will make life "more difficult" for Mercedes in 2021.

Verstappen has spent the last two seasons working with under-performing team-mates, initially Pierre Gasly and then Alex Albon, which has often left him taking the fight to Mercedes on his own.

With Perez, Verstappen at least has a strong, experienced partner that should give Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas a sterner fight for next year's titles than was the case this year.

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"He had a great season, he did a really good job with the car," said Verstappen on Perez's performance as the Mexican enjoyed a stunning end to the season in which he won his first grand prix.

"He brings a bit more experience to the team and I'm excited to work together [with him]. He's a nice guy, so I'm sure we'll get along very well. I hope with the two cars we can make it a bit more difficult for Mercedes next year."

While Verstappen is not expecting anything to change with regard to his own performances, he at least feels with Perez alongside him it will afford the team the opportunity to fight a different strategic battle than was the case with Gasly and Albon.

"It's more that we have a second car which is capable of being up there as well, the whole race and trying to put a bit of pressure [on]," added Verstappen. "For example, like in Abu Dhabi, at the end, Alex was quite close.

"It just prevents - most of the time - Mercedes trying to go for an extra stop or whatever, and then I'm in more difficulties, because most of the time when we were quite competitive this year, I was the only car trying to beat them, and trying to do something different.

"But they can always do the right strategy with one of them, because they will always cover me with one car, so it was always a bit difficult to fight them.

"I just hope that Checo will be the one, first of all, of course, to push the whole team forward, but also keep me on my toes, which is always nice, to have a team-mate pushing you, it's exciting.

"Hopefully we can, with a bit more of a competitive car from the start, make it just a bit more interesting and difficult for them to make decisions."

The 22-year-old has revealed to providing an "honest opinion" with regard to who should be his team-mate, hinting Albon was not up to the task.

"I think it was quite clear that throughout the whole year, it was sometimes quite tricky for Alex," said Verstappen.

"He is a great guy, honestly, and I'm happy that he's part of the team still, but at the end of the day, of course, it's Helmut [Marko] and Christian [Horner], and, of course, Dietrich [Mateschitz] making the decisions.

"Of course I knew a bit before. But at the end of the day that doesn't matter."