Perez's father draws parallels to Senna-Prost rivalry in 2023 F1 title battle?
May 12 - Sergio Perez's father has likened the 2023 title fight to the infamous scrap between F1 legends Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost.
While some believe Max Verstappen is the obvious de-facto 'number 1' at Red Bull, Mexican Perez is only 14 points behind - and his father Antonio says the 33-year-old is definitely charging for the title.
"You have to remember when McLaren had Senna and Prost," Antonio Perez Garabay told the Mexican newspaper Esto.
"This is the same. Today we are living it again.
"They are two tigers, gram for gram, in the same cage. They both think the same, have the same breakfast. You see they both try to take fastest lap from one another.
"In qualifying they want pole position, they want to be fastest in free practice."
Perez snr thinks it is obvious that Verstappen, 25, is often regarded as the lead driver because of his 2021 and 2022 titles and "how long Max has been on the team".
"So he has a lot of advantage, but Checo can now go at Max's pace. I think there are only a few thousandths between them in Max's favour, but on difficult tracks I see them very even," he added.
Perez already has a contract for 2024 and his father Antonio thinks he is as fully motivated as any top driver in the past.
"Every morning, he knows that he is on a team that is first place and that second place is the first loser," he said.
"Today I see a different Checo Perez - the way he talks, walks and looks is different. I notice it like a father when I talk to him and he says 'no, no, no boss, remember I am number 1' and I tell him 'no, no, don't be confused'," Perez's father laughed.
"Earlier, finishing tenth was wonderful, but if Checo had had this opportunity from the beginning as other young drivers had, he would already be world champion several times, I have no doubt.
"I believe we will all see Checo Perez for the next ten years and I certainly see him as a world champion," he said.
As for the comparison to Senna and Prost, Red Bull's top official Dr Helmut Marko said that as long as the fight doesn't descend into chaos, the pair are free to fight.
"We can afford the luxury of letting both drivers drive freely," he told RTL.
✅ Check out more posts with related topics:
Comparing Max-Checo to Senna-Prost is somewhat apples to oranges because at least both could fight for the championships, unlike presently.
Max will likely start running away eventually, so pretending that Checo could provide a genuine championship challenge without Max starting to get unlucky with unreliability, like Lewis in 2016, is pointless.
Indeed JJ, Pérez does great, but it reminds me more to the Schumacher-Barrichello, Vettel-Webber and Hamilton-Bottas championship "fights".
If Verstappen would have started from pole last Sunday, we would probably all have fallen a sleep voor 80% of the race and woke up when he lapped Pérez in the end of the race!
Before we can make it a Post-Senna one, Perez needs to win at least one WC and not to unimportantly we also need some more clashes on track...
It is wonderful to see a father's genuine support for his son, and for the son to deserve that support. Kudos to that family. They both are gentlemen. RB is lucky to have them. But, Senna-Prost????? Sorry, no cigar.
Exactement ROR!
The rivalry between Checo and Max is a friendly one, a healthy one where they both respect each other. Good for F1.
How can we compare that to the Senna - Prost era when they ignored each other on the podium!
Perez senior is in cloud cuckoo land with that comment
So far from reality