Sergio Perez has mirrored on his time at Crimson Bull and the difficulties of driving alongside four-time champion Max Verstappen.
The Mexican driver joined the Milton Keynes outfit in 2021 after stints with Power India/Racing Level, McLaren and Sauber. Whereas he began off as a powerful second driver beside the Dutchman, with a fourth-place end within the drivers’ championship in his first yr with the staff, a third-place end in 2022 and a second-place end in 2023, he began to battle increasingly with the equipment, which he claims was tailor-made to Verstappen.
2024 left Perez ending eighth within the drivers’ standings. He was changed for 2025 by rookie Liam Lawson, who was in flip changed by Yuki Tsunoda after simply two race weekends. The Japanese driver has now additionally been changed for 2026 by Isack Hadjar.
“We had one of the best staff,” Perez mentioned of Crimson Bull throughout an look on the Cracks Podcast.
“Sadly, every part was destroyed. We had the staff to have dominated the subsequent ten years in F1, I consider, and sadly, every part got here to an finish. However I used to be in one of the best staff. An advanced staff, proper? As a result of being Max’s team-mate… simply being Max’s team-mate is already very troublesome, however being Max’s team-mate at Crimson Bull is the worst job there’s in Method 1, by far.
“Everybody forgot, didn’t they? After I arrived at Crimson Bull, I began getting outcomes and every part, and everybody forgot how troublesome it was to be in that seat. And I used to be very conscious of what I used to be stepping into. I arrived at Crimson Bull they usually put you up towards one of many best drivers in historical past.”
The scenario on the staff was made clear to him at his first assembly with then-team principal Christian Horner.
“I knew what I used to be stepping into,” he added. “This mission is constructed for Max. After I first sat down with Christian, he informed me: ‘Look, we’re going to race with two vehicles as a result of we’ve got to race with two vehicles. However this mission has been created for Max. Max is our expertise.’ It’s like if Carlos Slim builds a staff and I’m his driver, proper? And also you rent a Dutch man. So it’s the identical factor.
“In order that’s what I used to be getting into, and I used to be very conscious of it. I informed him: ‘It doesn’t matter. On this staff I’m going to develop the automobile, I’m going to help the automobile, I’m going to help the staff.'”
It wasn’t all a battle for the Mexican driver, although. At the beginning of 2022, he revealed that he was placing in sooner occasions within the simulator than Verstappen, till upgrades had been launched that he didn’t hit it off with.
“In 2022, when the automobile by mistake got here out very heavy, we had a really heavy automobile with the load distribution too far ahead, proper? So it was a lot, way more steady, it was at all times what I used to be searching for.
“So at that second, I do not forget that within the simulator I used to be sooner than Max, and I used to be already arriving on the race weekends interested by successful the race, and every part got here mechanically. As a driver, while you don’t have to consider methods to drive, about what the automobile goes to do, every part comes mechanically. After which we had a automobile that perhaps wasn’t a lot in Max’s fashion, and in 2022 I began combating for the championship with him… till the upgrades arrived.
“When the upgrades arrive, there’s a very clear path wherein the staff has to go, and that’s once I begin to have issues. As a result of I now not know what the automobile goes to do within the nook, I’m already interested by not crashing, after which the crashes begin, the accidents begin. You don’t have 100% management.
Max Verstappen, Crimson Bull Racing, Sergio Perez, Crimson Bull Racing
Photograph by: Crimson Bull Content material Pool
“After which the identical factor occurs in 2023. The staff builds a way more steady automobile for each drivers, however as quickly because the upgrades arrive in 2023 and I begin combating for the championship with Max – he wins one race, I win one other, he wins one, I win one other, that means that over 4 races he gained two and I gained two — so we had been very evenly matched.
“And once we get to Barcelona, from combating on the entrance, I’m going to being a second per lap slower. I now not had management of the automobile. So then all this strain begins. All this strain, which was very arduous as a result of, effectively, the one at fault is the motive force, proper? Since you’re not centered, since you’re doing too many commercials, or since you’re concerned in different issues.”
The 35-year-old added that the staff would complain and that “every part was an issue”.
“[The team would complain about] The whole lot. Virtually every part. At Crimson Bull, every part was an issue. If I used to be very quick, it was an issue as a result of it created a really tense ambiance at Crimson Bull. If I used to be sooner than Max, it was an issue. If I used to be slower than Max, it was an issue. So every part was an issue.”
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