There has by no means been a detailed contest between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez throughout their 4 seasons collectively at Pink Bull.
Nonetheless Perez’s kind this yr sunk to an alarming low after round half-a-dozen races. This roughly coincided with the staff’s determination to increase his contract, blowing the speculation {that a} present of religion of their driver would spur him on to raised issues.
At this stage within the season it’s straightforward to miss the very fact Perez made a good begin to the championship. He backed Verstappen up in one-two finishes for the staff in three of the primary 4 rounds. Six races in he’d completed each race within the prime 5 and was second within the standings.
Sure, he was persistently behind his staff mate to start with, an element most groups would question. Perez hasn’t certified forward of his staff mate since Verstappen’s slip in qualifying at Miami final yr, 31 rounds in the past.
However following a very poor spell in the midst of final yr, Perez ended the season in higher form. He carried that into this yr however his season began to go off the rails on the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. Perez failed to achieve Q3, whereas Verstappen caught the automotive on pole, and solely recovered to eighth.
Pink Bull staff principal Christian Horner referred to as his weekend an “anomaly”. However his kind solely worsened from there, and shortly it started to appear his efficiency within the opening races was the actual anomaly.
The efficiency hole between the 2 drivers on single-lap tempo widened, at the least on the events when Perez managed to set a consultant lap time in qualifying. He hasn’t at all times executed that, crashing in consecutive races at Silverstone and the Hungaroring.
As Pink Bull have pressed on with their efforts to enhance the RB20, the 2 drivers haven’t at all times had the identical specification {hardware}. This additionally occurs at different groups, however could have been aggravated in Perez’s case by his qualifying crashes, plus his big shunt at Monaco after tangling with Kevin Magnussen who began 4 locations behind him in twentieth.
After Perez’s third point-less weekend out of 5, Horner described the state of affairs as “unsustainable”. However after a pair of seventh-place finishes and a few reflection, Pink Bull once more look like hoping {that a} present of religion in Perez was result in higher performances. The end result of the constructors’ championship is driving on whether or not they’ve made the fitting name, for whereas Perez goes into the summer season break with slightly below half his staff mates’ tally, Verstappen has out-scored him greater than four-fold over the past eight races.
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Verstappen vs Perez: Season abstract
Verstappen vs Perez: Race-by-race
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Unrepresentative comparisons omitted. Detrimental worth: Verstappen was quicker; Constructive worth: Perez was quicker
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