Max Verstappen has admitted the hype around Sergio Perez fighting for the Formula 1 title during the early stages of 2023 Formula 1 made him even “more motivated”.
Only six points separated the Red Bull team-mates after Perez won for the second time in four rounds at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, his second victory at the Baku City Circuit.
Perez had the opportunity to claim the championship lead for the first time in his F1 career when he lined up on pole position in Miami while Verstappen languished in ninth.
However, the Dutchman charged through the field to overtake Perez and register a victory that would commence a record-breaking run of 10 consecutive wins up until Singapore.
Meanwhile, Perez would endure a slump that saw him fail to progress to Q3 in qualifying at five straight events, enabling Verstappen to secure the title with five rounds to spare.
Asked about the ‘Street King’ nickname Perez was heralded with, Verstappen told Viaplay: “It only makes me even more motivated to show that it is not the case.
“That is actually the wrong motivation for other people, but it’s not like that scares me.
“Certain media, for example from Mexico or Spanish-language media, are of course hyping that. People are of course hoping for a title fight anyway.”
Although Perez recovered his form towards the end of the campaign, the Mexican failed to add to his win tally and wound up a sizeable 290 points adrift of Verstappen.
Verstappen, who amassed 19 wins in 22 rounds, revealed that he wasn’t concerned by his team-mate’s momentum as he was confident the later tracks would suit him.
“I also know that at the start of the season, we will never really get the circuits that suit me perfectly,” he explained.
“Those tracks will only come later in the year, the faster circuits with lots of fast corners.
‘I wasn’t worried at all at that moment. It was just a matter of us having to tie certain details together a little better. In the end, we succeeded quite well after Baku.”
Perez eventually held onto second place in the Drivers’ Championship and has vowed to learn from his struggles over the past year to mount a renewed bid for the title in 2024.
But Verstappen has warned his team-mate that inherent belief must be followed up by consistency on the track to prevail in the intense heat of a championship battle.
The Dutchman added: “You can certainly believe in it yourself. But in the end there are a lot of races during a season.
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