Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez have been a lucky duo for Red Bull since 2021. Albeit in 2021, the Austrian team did not win the constructor title, the Dutch racer managed to win his maiden Driver’s World Championship, beating the then reigning champion. Later, Max credited his teammate for doing his part in slowing Lewis Hamilton down. Checo did not let Hamilton overtake in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Adding to that, a controversial decision by the then race director, Michael Masi, led to Hamilton’s downfall. The seven-time champion lost to Max Verstappen in 2021 and that marked the beginning of the Red Bull uprising.
In 2022, there were regulation changes and with the start of the cost cap era, Mercedes lost their grip on the title. As a result, the Milton Keynes team has been enjoying an easy domination since the ground effect rules came into play. Moreover, the duo of Checo and Max has brought the glory days back to the Austrian outfit. Since the previous year, there have been rumors that Red Bull might let Checo go next year. Lately, however, they have extended the Mexican driver’s contract to 2026.
Former F1 Racer Explains Verstappen’s Role In Checo’s Contract Extension
Recently, Ralf Schumacher talked about the contract extension of Sergio Perez in a Formel1.de video. He said that, as per rumors, Christian Horner does not have faith in the drivers of Red Bull’s junior teams. Moreover, Schumacher added that Horner is not very confident about Yuki Tsunoda or Liam Lawson either. They have not given Tsunoda a chance to get into the senior team from VCARB. For a few races in the 2023 season, Lawson replaced Daniel Ricciardo. Apparently, he is not in a good position either. That’s why Ralf believes Christian Horner extended the contract of Sergio Perez for financial reasons. Moreover, the former F1 driver mentioned, “Max Verstappen is pretty expensive, and Checo earns a lot of money owing to his sponsors.”
Due to the tremendous rise of the Dutch racer, he earns the most bucks in the sport right now. But Checo is not a “Pay driver.” The rich Carlos Sim is a personal sponsor of Sergio Perez, and he earns a lot of money every year. Anyway, Ralf Schumacher says that the ball is in Red Bull’s court right now. They have to deliver on track, especially in the next GP in Canada. In Montreal, Schumacher doesn’t expect Checo to perform well with the RB20 car. He expects to see an exciting race between Max Verstappen and the rest of the drivers on the grid.
Why The Dutch Racer Deserves A Better Teammate Than Sergio Perez?
Red Bull is trying to keep up their lead against Ferrari and McLaren. In Monaco, they didn’t get a podium finish. Ferrari and McLaren finished on the podium. Clearly, since 2022, Max Verstappen has been fighting alone for the Austrian outfit in the long season. Sergio Perez managed to win a couple of races in 2022 and then again last year. On the other hand, Max Verstappen won 15 in 2022 and 19 races in 2023.
There has been a huge gap between the two Red Bull drivers for a long time. Even then, Red Bull had a 1-2 finish in the standings last year. But this season, things won’t be that easy for Horner’s team. McLaren and Ferrari are coming with powerful packages. Hence, the Austrian outfit needs its two drivers to perform well.
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