Verstappen is not the number 1 at Red Bull

Sergio Perez’s return to form is starting to become a headache for Red Bull. The team with the winged bull does not want to comment on the hierarchy between its drivers. The reigning champion and current championship leader, Max Verstappen, no longer officially holds the position of number one that he had last year, which allowed him to rely on a model teammate in Sergio Perez to help him win the title.

But this season, Perez is no longer playing second fiddle. The Mexican is having a very good start to the season, highlighted by a pole position, four podiums, and above all, a prestigious victory in Monaco. “Checo” is firmly in the fight for the championship, just fifteen points behind Verstappen.

Helmut Marko, the influential special advisor of Red Bull, explains that there is no predefined number one within the team. This position had also been shared by Christian Horner, who stated that Red Bull is not “Max Verstappen Racing.”

It is the drivers’ performances and their position in the championship that define the team’s strategies. However, the Austrian gives preference to Verstappen based on the beginning of the season.

He (Perez) can become world champion, but for that, he must have the necessary speed to clearly beat Max on the track. We generally don’t have team instructions or a number 1 policy. If you compare the results, it’s four wins for Max and one win for Perez. So Max is the more consistent one, explains Marko.

In terms of absolute speed, it’s Max who dominates, but we’ll see how it evolves. Perez has improved and thanks to the technical changes, he is much better with the car. We still need to work on reliability because three breakdowns are too many, but in terms of speed and consistency, we are able to seriously discuss the constructors’ championship, hopes the Austrian.

If he wants to be able to benefit from his team’s favor, Sergio Perez will have to show himself to be faster than Verstappen. Much easier said than done.