- Red Bull driver Sergio Perez is confident that he has the support of his bosses
- He beat Max Verstappen at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
- But there are indications of tension among them
Red Bull driver Sergio Perez is confident that he has the support of his bosses to compete against fellow team driver Max Verstappen for the 2023 title championship.
Perez has some confidence that he could beat Verstappen following his first victory at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
“I really believe I have the team’s full support, as much as Max does, and that I will have every opportunity to win the championship, as much as Max,” reports BBC Sport.
The Mexican driver joined the Christian Horner-led team in 2021 and his relationship with the other team members was not as great as it is today.
He feels that he is in the right place and is a part of the team and he is getting the recognition and respect he always wanted from the team.
Perez was Red Bull’s reserve driver whose cardinal role in the team was supporting Verstappen championship campaign.
Sergio Perez. Photo/Autosport
However, he learnt fast and is taking advantage of Red Bull’s dominance in Formula one this season and has proven how good of a driver he is.
However, this is seemingly creating tension in his team’s camp. After winning the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix last weekend, Perez took to Twitter where he expressed his desire to take on Verstappen, albeit indirectly.
The latter finished second owing to a problem with his drivetrain. Perez said that he is both challenged and encouraged to make history this season.
“It was tougher than I thought, but in the end I’m happy to get my fifth victory in F1. Very happy with the result of the team. We are going to keep pushing very hard. I want to be a champion,” read the tweet.
He later pulled it down raising more eyebrows as to why he did and the nature of his relationship with Verstappen.
Verstappen is optimistic about making a third successful run in this year’s championship after finishing the 2022 season with 146 points. Perez completed the season in the third position.
They have each won a race since the 2023 season started. The Dutch driver won the opening Grand Prix in Bahrain while the Mexican beat him to the second one in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Verstappen wasn’t as pleased when Perez won the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. His father Jos didn’t recognize the Mexican following his win.
Further, there was tension after Perez demanded that Red Bull perform a review following knowledge that Verstappen got an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race on the penultimate lap.
Max Verstappen. Photo by Planet F1
It was after this that he posted his tweet citing his ambitions to win the championship this year and later deleted it.
He posted a similar tweet, only that this time around, he steered clear of his ambition to win the title.
“It was tougher than I thought, but in the end I’m happy to get my fifth F1 victory. Very happy with the result of the team. We will continue to push very hard,” read the ‘toned down’ tweet.
It will be an interesting show to see how the two Red Bull drivers get along. Verstappen was unhappy with his team after finishing second at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Verstappen urged his team to put in extra effort to ensure increased dependability and trouble-free weekends.
He finished just five seconds behind Red Bull teammate Perez who finished first in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after qualifying in 15th place on the grid.
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