The 2023 Formula 1 season has been utterly dominated by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. As a result, lots of discussion has flared around the performance of his teammate [autotag]Sergio Perez[/autotag], who is currently 125 points back from Verstappen in the same car — and McLaren CEO [autotag]Zak Brown[/autotag], whether intentionally or not, seemed to add some fuel to that fire.
Speaking to ESPN’s Nate Saunders, Brown explained that the current F1 season aside from Verstappen has still had some excitement across the year. In explaining so, Perez seemed to catch some strays:
“As much as Red Bull’s killing everyone right now… it’s really Max is killing everyone right now. That Max, Red Bull combination is just unbeatable at the moment and Max and the team isn’t making any mistakes. If they had two Sergios in the car, with all due respect, this championship would kind of be wide open. So you’ve got something pretty special going on with Max and Red Bull.”
Brown is right about one thing — the pair of Verstappen and his car this season has been nothing short of unprecedented. Not only has Verstappen been excellent, but his car has yet to DNF during a race across the entire season. That winning combo has allowed Verstappen to win 10 of 12 possible races so far in 2023.
Perez, meanwhile, has been eliminated in Q3 three times in 2023 and is currently only 40 points clear of third-place Fernando Alonso. His performance this year has drawn some criticism from fans and pundits alike, so his form after the summer break will be important to note.
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