Verstappen and Pérez to battle hard for 2023 F1 title
Mar.21 - Aston Martin has joined Mercedes and Ferrari near the very top in Formula 1 - but the 2023 world championship looks set to be a one-team affair.
"The Red Bull spaceship is from another planet," said La Gazzetta dello Sport, after the energy drink owned team secured a second consecutive easy one-two on Sunday.
"The 2023 world championship will be an internal affair between Verstappen and Perez. At least this duel is a guarantee that, after just two races, this world championship will not be boring."
From the media's perspective, the fact that an existing narrative of tension between teammates Max Verstappen - the double world champion - and Sergio Perez is a God-send.
And that tension only became clearer in Saudi Arabia as Mexican Perez openly questioned whether Dutchman Verstappen had either ignored team orders or been given the green-light to charge for the fastest race lap.
"It's not the team's fault," former F1 driver Vitaly Petrov said. "Max just acted the way he wanted to.
"Many people think it was an action by the team specifically against Sergio, and Sergio seems to believe that too. But I think Verstappen just decided to do it for the extra point."
That explanation lines up with the official story as told by team boss Christian Horner and Dr Helmut Marko.
"They both had the same info," Horner confirmed.
"Max asked what the fastest lap was, so it was clear he was going to try. And Checo knew that too, because he also made an attempt on the last lap but gave up after a few corners because he was already well above his fastest time."
The media, however, has its new Verstappen vs Perez narrative - and so much is being made about Max's father Jos and manager Raymond Vermeulen appearing to ignore Perez's victory celebrations immediately after the Jeddah race.
"They suddenly show the man in full view on TV," Dutch F1 GP boss Jan Lammers told NOS. "How was he supposed to look when his son came second instead of first. Should he look happy?
"Way too much is being made of this. Jos and Raymond were never very emotionally involved in the race because it was very clear why the result occurred."
Lammers is referring to the fact that Verstappen, 25, started 15th compared to Perez's pole position after a driveshaft failure in qualifying.
Jos Verstappen is quoted as saying by Dutch publication Formule 1: "I don't think he (Perez) gets the chance very often, so he saw that and went for it.
"But we all saw what happened in qualifying, otherwise Max would easily have had that pole position. And then the race would have been a lot easier."
According to another former Dutch F1 driver, Christijan Albers, Perez will have to hope for more Verstappen problems in 2023.
When asked by De Telegraaf if the Mexican can realistically charge for the 2023 title, Albers answered: "Yes, if Max has problems five, six, seven or maybe eight times.
"If Perez then has no problems, it could be a story like Rosberg and Hamilton in 2016. Then it might be possible."
However, Timo Glock, another ex-F1 driver, thinks Perez will be charged up after Saudi Arabia.
"He sees his chance to compete with Verstappen," he told Sky Deutschland. "The battle could be heated.
"Perez showed that he has very good race pace, but at the same time we saw that Verstappen is someone who will not be told what to do.
"They can both say what they like, but these drivers will both go for the win."
✅ Check out more posts with related topics:
Doubtful. Max will likely start running away in the points as the season progresses, like Lewis against his teammate in 2019 & '20.
What a lie, yes Perez was tricked into slowing down so Verstappen gets the extra pints.otherwise Sergio would have gone into the Australian GP with said extra pint. no said Marko and Horner Verstappen his number 1 not Segio. all you have to do is look at Red Bull what happened to Mark Webber and Dannial Riciordo when they said NO I am not here to be a number 2 Driver,booted out of the Team. Sergio has helped Verstappen get where he is today. Max cheating yet again.
What happened to Webber and Ricciardo was that Seb and Max are better drivers, it's that simple.
I like Checo, and I'm happy to see him win. Being picked up by RB was a godsend, don't blow it man
Amaya, sorry to have to disagree as Max, is Max, is Max, he's a race car driver, his own man he's good to people that are close to him, he sulks, gets annoyed when things dont go right and much more has his own mind, as for being a cheat I know nothing about that. I like Perez and followed through his career and he will NEVER, I mean never match Max. V.
Make the most of it RB, sir Lulu & Ted krvits are already starting the ball rolling for a DRS investigation on your extremely fast car, not saying that I told you so, he, he.
That thought wont have passed Rb by, but it wont stop the protests to the Fia by the 21hangover crew in Silver(or black)
Sorry, going off the subject a bit, but just heard that sir Lulu's being pushed to go to ferrari and to be replaced by LN as the best choice., but I'm thinking Piastri could be a better choice
I hope Perez can keep up as long as possible, otherwise it will be Ome a very boring season this year
Np , oh i dont know Hamilton trying to beat King G and when failing coming up with all different Excuses lol WITH Alonso giving them both a slap , seems a very entertaining idea, lets face it based on 2 races ferrari wont provide the entertainment, As for Checo , i reckon mid season then hell begin to fade, only coming back into play when Max simply breaks the car , because it cant take the Max-imum
Here we go again, I can't give Alonso enough credit for what he has done recently, it was only last week when toto said that he would probably let AM have the new merc engine "which is 4.5 more Hp" to help Alonso, he's got more faith in Alonso than he has in sir Lulu.
✅ Checkout the latest 50 F1 Fans comments.