Verstappen and the media pushed Perez to "another level"

Sergio Perez has explained how racing alongside Max Verstappen pushed him to "new levels" during the Dutchman's F1 title-winning campaign.

Perez joined Red Bull from Racing Point ahead of last season after consistently challenging the front-running teams in his midfield machinery while driving for Force India/Racing Point

After stepping up to partner Verstappen, however, Perez initially struggled to get to grips with the car, particularly in qualifying before often coming through in races.

Even with his improvement across the year, Perez finished on less than half the points of Verstappen, with his total of 190 falling 205.5 short of the Dutchman.

"[It was] very intense," said Perez. "It was extremely intense. A lot of work was done behind the scenes [and there was] a lot of pressure.

"When you are at Red Bull Racing, the pressure is on and everyone is watching you, what you do.

"[The media] is a lot harder to a Red Bull driver, which is understandable but yeah, it wasn't easy but it brought me onto another level.

"Having Max as a team-mate, he really pushes you to new levels and makes you really happy.

"I am enjoying it a lot at this point of my career, I am really happy and that is most important."

Asked if having Verstappen as a benchmark for his performance was 'the problem', Perez added: "No, I think in general, with the top teams there is a lot more pressure which is understandable.

"It is part of the game, it is quite normal."

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