Sergio Perez has insisted that he will be given an equal opportunity to fight teammate Max Verstappen for the Formula 1 World Championship this season, referring to the high level of respect between the two drivers and the engineers.
Perez has started his third season with Red Bull by achieving 87 points in the drivers’ standings so far and in similar style to the start of his 2022 campaign he is keeping within touching distance of Verstappen.
This season, the Mexican driver has picked up race wins in Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan, while Verstappen came out victorious from the Australian and Bahrain Grands Prix.
Following his second victory of the season, Perez heads into this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix just six points behind championship leader Verstappen, and the Mexican driver believes that Red Bull hand him the same amount of support they give Verstappen to challenge for the title.
“I do believe that the team will give me as much support as they do with Max, and it’s what they’ve been doing since pretty much the start of the season. In that regard, I think we have to appreciate that a lot from Red Bull.”
The fight between Perez and Verstappen in the Azerbaijan GP brought some much-needed intrigue to what was otherwise a mundane tour of the streets of Baku.
Having cleared Charles Leclerc, a Nyck de Vries-induced Safety Car allowed Perez to effectively make a free pitstop and sweep into the lead, proceeding to hold off Verstappen to the chequered flag.
“It would be very easy for Red Bull to implement team orders on Lap 20 and look after the cars and make sure we have very reliable cars and so on,” he added.
“But no, in Jeddah and in Baku, we pushed flat out throughout the race. In Baku we hit the wall a few times, both drivers, and that was because we were so much on the limit. It went right, but it could easily be a damage, and we could easily have a problem.”
It is possible that the Red Bull pair will be even closer in Miami, with Verstappen taking victory in last year’s first running of the event as Perez came home fourth.
However, Perez is confident that the team will allow them to continue to battle without the need for team orders.
“[Fighting for the championship] is a massive enjoyment, it’s what you’ve been working your whole life for,” he declared. “I’m just enjoying it.
“I have no pressure, I’ve had a great career, and if I’m able to keep this going and I just want to win many more races now, and I’m just thinking on Miami, I’m not thinking too much on the championship at the moment.
“I’m sure the team is super confident to let us race as hard as we’ve been doing. I think the level of respect between Max, myself, between the engineers, is pretty high.”
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