Max Verstappen Takes a Sly Dig at Sergio Perez by Claiming to Have Better Skills in Setting up the Car

Whenever an F1 champion dominates, people often say it is the impeccable flawless car that enables him. Max Verstappen is also a victim of this perception. There are also rumors that Red Bull prioritizes the Dutchman and develops the car to his liking. However, Verstappen has snubbed these rumors while taking a sly dig at his teammate, Sergio Perez. The 26-year-old stated that he knows how to set up his car in the optimal way which helps him dominate.

In an interview with Auto Motor und Sport, the Red Bull driver stated, “I set up the car the way I like it. And the other driver as it suits him. The engineers are developing the car to make it faster. And not how I would like it.”

For the entirety of the 2023 season, Verstappen dominated with the RB19 relentlessly. Meanwhile, Perez was not even able to score half of his champion teammate’s points tally.

Verstappen scored a record 575 points, while Perez only managed 285. This fueled the speculations that the Austrian team once again developed the RB19 to Verstappen’s liking to boost his championship challenge.

However, there was no challenge from the Mexican driver to be real. After winning two races, his form withered away amid collisions, crashes, and a general lack of pace. On the other hand, the Dutchman ran away with the championship to complete a hat trick of titles.

Verstappen also elaborated on how adapting the driving style to the car is also crucial. This is something many experts claim champion drivers like him, Lewis Hamilton, and Fernando Alonso do.

The three-time champion cited that adapting to the needs of the car is key to extracting everything from it. This is what separates the great drivers from the rest.

Max Verstappen knows the secrets to championship success

Max Verstappen has learned over the last three years the perfect recipe for succeeding in a championship campaign. It needs a good car besides some adaptability from himself as a driver and a stomach for a fight if and when it comes. In a tight 2021 battle, Verstappen adapted and maximized a lot of his results to edge out Lewis Hamilton.

Meanwhile, in 2022, despite an abysmal start, the Dutchman capitalized on the rich vein of form to throw the gauntlet and win his second consecutive title. Adrian Newey deserves a major chunk of credit too for mastering the new ground effect regulations.

He produced a car in 2023 that helped Red Bull win a record 21 out of the 22 races. With Verstappen winning 19 of them, he definitely is the favorite to win another title in 2024 as well.

While he has already passed Sebastian Vettel in his wins tally, he could now also equal the German’s championship record too in 2024. Verstappen is poised to do so again unless other teams like Mercedes or Ferrari are able to reduce the gap drastically to Red Bull.

Moreover, even the likes of McLaren or Aston Martin cannot be ruled out from making another huge step forward in 2024. Nonetheless, Verstappen seems all prepared to tackle any sort of challenge after gaining so much insight and experience in winning championships.

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• Max Verstappen
• Sergio Perez